CAN A HISTORIAN LOOK AT THE PAST OBJECTIVELY?    PT1  2300W

In the following lines, it is going to be discussed the statement “It is impossible for an historian not to view the recent past through a moral or ideological lens“.

In order to offer a deeper insight in the topic, it has been considered appropriate to reformulate the statement, turning it into a question and formulating it in a positive way. As well, though we will go back to it later, it has been considered as well to remove the nuance “recent” from the question. Thus, this is the result: “It is possible for a historian not to view the past through a moral and ideological lens?”.

These modifications, that as we may see don’t distort the essence of the original proposal, will make easier to think about the topic, as facilitates the task of consider it from a historical and epistemological-based perspective, which enables us to give a broader picture about it and its historical roots. Anyway, in the conclusion, the original statement will be brought back again, and answered.

The first step before going deep in this issue, is to define briefly what do we understand for “moral and ideological lens”.