1. Why study History?

29. Historical Objectivity, Impartiality, Neutrality.


Objectivity: Objectivity means mental state or quality of being objective; it also means external reality. Objectivity in historical writing is of capital importance for the growth of historical studies on healthy lines. Until recent times the explanation for historical developments was sought not from an objective search for truth in history but from other points of view mythology, theology, philosophy and ideology. Objectivity contributed to critical study of history and objective writing which in turn helped in the emergence of history as a scientific and independent branch of knowledge. Historical objectivity stands for what is true and the real. It implies the state of being free from personal bias and sentimental approach and the state of not being one sided, personal and partial. Being what is real, it will be the same, who ever writes it. To emerge as a successful historian, it is essential to cultivate the habits of objectivity, criticism, analysis and balanced approach. Certain factors can contribute to objectivity.

1. 
   To possess curiosity to gather the information from all possible sources. Historical data are furnished by archaeological or literary sources, that are found at different places and at times in several languages. It is necessary to collect all these data for the purpose of writing a work.
   
2. 
   The historian should possess a critical spirit for a scientific analysis. He / she should master the details, compare the evidences, apply criticism and evaluate them for writing.
   
3. 
   He is to cultivate a historical sense, so that he can see a character, event or trend in its real setting.
   
4. 
   In the process of writing he is to display an ability not to allow his subjective considerations to blur his vision. He should bestow adequate care upon factual verification, should evaluate each situation and character on merit and should write what really happened. The generalizations and conclusions that he / she forms, are to be supported by sufficient data and based upon balanced approach.
   

(2) Impartiality is a principle of justice holding that decisions should be based on objective criteria, rather than on the basis of bias, prejudice, or preferring the benefit to one person over another for improper reasons.


Generally, historians can be more impartial about events that happened in the past because:

1. 
   the controversy that surrounded them at the time has faded or transformed into something else,
   
2. 
   the interests and the emotions of the time are no longer affecting the people who studying them,
   
3. 
   the impacts and significances of the event become more clear after seeing the effects in the aftermath.
   

But this does not always hold true, especially in cases of (1) war - the historian or examiner feels an emotional connection to the people involved in the historical events, (2) politics- the historian or examiner has a biased perspective as a result of upbringing, race, socioeconomic status, religion, culture, etc, and (3) religion - the historian or examiner is working off of inaccurate, misleading, or incomplete information. These are the few illustrative examples of why a historical event might be controversial and result in an inaccurate interpretation.


(3). Neutrality is the tendency not to side in a conflict (physical or ideological), which may not suggest neutral parties do not have a side or are not a side themselves.
In general, as long as people equally analyze the view points from both sides and take the position between the two, they can then describe the history neutrally. To help substantiate that historical fact can actually be described in neutral tone. An unbiased description of any historical event should consist of objectivity, or neutrality. That being said, being neutral in tone means one could not depict an historical event using a biased, subjective and prejudiced point of view that one should not choose the position from either side but should stand in the middle. History, is a record of the present traces of the significant events occurred in the past. As long as people equally analyze the view points from both sides and take the position between the two, historical events can be described in a neutral tone.