Timeline for What do we mean when we say history is a science?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
7 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| May 14, 2019 at 5:12 | comment | added | jamesqf | @Mark C. Wallace: Not really. Einstein didn't say that Newton was wrong, he just showed that things work differently when you go really fast, or hang out near massive objects. In history, it's more often like the difference between genetics and the "science" of Lysenkoism: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysenkoism All too many people adjust the facts to support their political (in the largest sense) positions. | |
| May 13, 2019 at 9:54 | comment | added | MCW♦ | @Jamesqf - I am unaware of any science where that is not true. Newton said one thing, Einstein another. | |
| May 12, 2019 at 18:23 | comment | added | user37802 | "Generally in history the hypothesis is tested against other data sets. (much like in sociology or political science). " This is actually a reasonable argument and a plausible route toward a science of history--the best answer I've come across, anyway. And admirably free of jargon. But it still falls short, in my view, and for an important reason, which I'll try to explain in an answer below. | |
| May 12, 2019 at 16:41 | comment | added | user15620 | In the last few decades, there's been an increasing influence on history from other fields like genetics and archaeology, meaning that we can test theories against entirely new evidence. | |
| May 12, 2019 at 16:17 | comment | added | jamesqf | You example really shows why history is NOT a science. One person - Beard - can claim that historic events were driven by whatever theory he happens to believe in, another person can claim that they're driven by entirely different motives, yet there is no way to test either hypothesis because each can claim that the source material he happens to select supports that hypothesis. (PS: both relativity and string theory are fairly easy to explain: it's doing the math to get useful answers that's hard. Same might be true for CRISPR, but I don't know enough about it to say.) | |
| May 12, 2019 at 15:25 | history | edited | sempaiscuba | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
minor typo - "must like" rather than "much like"
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| May 12, 2019 at 15:18 | history | answered | MCW♦ | CC BY-SA 4.0 |