The will to Truth: A Reply to Novick

Judith Lichtenberg

The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1998, vol. 560, issue 1, 43-54

Abstract: This article challenges Peter Novick's claims that truth and objectivity are not proper goals for historians to strive after. The author argues that, on the contrary, these ideals are morally and intellectually indispensable. The argument consists of an attack on several fundamental claims Novick makes: that history and fiction are barely distinguishable; that although there are such things as facts, it is easy to get them right and it is possible to construct whatever theory one likes around them; that historians should be honest not in the sense of being faithful to the truth (which, he believes, does not exist) but only in the sense of admitting that what they do is make up stories.

Date: 1998
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:anname:v:560:y:1998:i:1:p:43-54

DOI: 10.1177/0002716298560001004

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