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I think very little history is about passing judgment on historical figures.

• CRConrad 5y ago
  I think history is hardly about anything but passing judgment on historical figures.
  • Stupulous 5y ago
    I'm a determinist- I believe that if I were in an identical environment with an identical brain, I would behave identically. Reading social media, I see a lot of value judgments on people that rub me the wrong way- this person should be hated, that person was evil, etc. Extrapolating from my premise, I feel like those judgments apply to me and it stings a little. Reading history, I encounter statements about what people did and about what motivated them to do it in a way that is aligned with my deterministic outlook. I never find myself bristling at a historical biography the way I do in, eg., this thread. The author might want me to judge someone, but they don't tell me to do so or even express directly that that is their belief. I don't think a rule like, "you can't say someone is good/bad if you didn't know them," would result in a change to any history texts I've read, though I expect there are exceptions that I have not seen.
    • CRConrad 5y ago
      Yeah, sorry, unclear: Not for the author to pass judgment, but the reader.