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nydus/Introduction to the Study of HistoryPublic
Page 353 of 400
Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF HISTORY

  1. [60] For the details and the logical justification of this method see Seignobos, Les Conditions psychologiques de la connaissance en histoire, in the Revue philosophique, 1887, ii. pp. 1, 168.
  2. [61] The most favourable case, that in which the document has been drawn up by what is called an ocular "witness," is still far short of the ideal required for scientific knowledge. The notion of witness has been borrowed from the procedure of the law-courts; reduced to scientific terms, it becomes that of an observer. A testimony is an observation. But, in point of fact, historical testimony differs materially from scientific observation. The observer proceeds by fixed rules, and clothes his report in language of rigorous precision. On the other hand, the "witness" observes without method, and reports in unprecise language; it is not known whether he has taken the necessary precautions. It is an essential attribute of historical documents that they come before us as the result of work which has been done without method and without guarantee.
  3. [62] See B. Lasch, Das Erwachen und die Entwickelung der historischen Kritik im Mittelalter (Breslan, 1887, 8vo).
  4. [63] Natural credulity is deeply rooted in indolence. It is easier to believe than to discuss, to admit than to criticise, to accumulate documents than to weigh them. It is also pleasanter; he who criticises documents must sacrifice some of them, and such a sacrifice seems a dead loss to the man who has discovered or acquired the document.
  5. [64] Revue philosophique, l.c., p. 178.
  6. [65] A member of the Société des humanistes français (founded at Paris in 1894) amused himself by pointing out, in the Bulletin of this society, certain errors amenable to verbal criticism which occur in various editions of posthumous works, especially the Mémoires d'outre-tombe. He showed that it is possible to remove obscurities in the most modern documents by the same methods which are used in restoring ancient texts.
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