Performing History: How Historical Scholarship Is Shaped by Epistemic Virtues

Abstract

Philosophers of history in the past few decades have been predominantly interested in issues of explanation and narrative discourse. consequently, they have focused consistently and almost exclusively on the historian's (published) output, thereby ignoring that historical scholarship is a practice of reading, thinking, discussing, and writing, in which successful performance requires active cultivation of certain skills, attitudes, and virtues. this paper, then, suggests a new agenda for philosophy of history. Inspired by a "performative turn" in the history and philosophy of science, it focuses on the historian's "doings" and proposes to analyze these performances in terms of epistemic virtue. It argues that historical scholarship is embedded in "practices" or "epistemic cultures," in which knowledge is created and warranted by means of such virtues as honesty, carefulness, accuracy, and balance. these epistemic virtues, however, are not etched in stone: historians may highlight some of them, exchange one for another, or reinterpret their meaning. on the one hand, this suggests a rich area of research for historians of historiography. to what extent can consensus, conflict, continuity, and change in historical scholarship be explained in terms of epistemic virtue? on the other hand, the proposal outlined in this article raises a couple of philosophical questions. For example, on what grounds can historians choose among epistemic virtues? and what concept of the self comes with the notion of virtue? In addressing these questions, philosophy of history may expand its current scope so as to encompass not only "writings" but also "doings," that is, the virtuous performances historians recognize as professional conduct.

Falando de Virtudes e Estabelecendo Fronteiras na Historiografia Brasileira Moderna: uma leitura de Historiadores do Brasil, de Francisco Iglésias

“…https://orcid.org/0000- 0001-8946-4714 Introduction Much work has been done, both in theoretical explorations (PAUL 2011a;2012; and in empirical case studies (PAUL 2011b;ESKILDSEN 2013;HUISTRA 2013;OLIVEIRA 2013;CREYGHTON et al 2016;ENGBERTS 2016;MANTEUFEL 2016;SAARLOS 2016;, to demonstrate how virtue language is used to assess individuals and their performances as historians. These studies evidence that virtues and vices, either epistemic or not, are important components of recognition mechanisms which make it possible to recognize an individual as a "proper historian."…”

Virtudes Epistêmicas na Prática do Historiador: o caso da sensibilidade histórica na historiografia brasileira (1980-1990)

“…Os repertórios de virtudes epistêmicas de que dispõem os grupos produtores de conhecimento se articulam a outras dimensões, como comprometimentos e objetivos éticos, políticos e econômicos, no que Paul chama de persona acadêmica (PAUL 2011;2016). Tratam-se de modelos de conduta, tipificações abstratas que servem de parâmetro em relação aos quais os indivíduos que pertencem ou desejam pertencer ao grupo se posicionam para serem reconhecidos como tal -exemplos hipotéticos seriam o historiador engajado da New Left, o historiador arquivista do século XIX europeu, ou mesmo o historiador cientista dos Annales.…”

“…É neste sentido que os conceitos de virtude epistêmica e persona acadêmica, propostos por Herman Paul (2011;2012b;, nos ajudam a estudar as práticas historiográficas. Inspirando-se, por um lado, na discussão da virtue epistemology anglo-saxã, e, de outro, nos estudos de Lorraine Daston e Peter Galison (2007), Paul propõe que o conceito de virtude epistêmica serve de ferramenta útil para o historiador da historiografia ou o teórico da história que se preocupe em questionar a produção historiográfica enquanto prática, mais do que seus produtos finais acabados.…”

Inventing the archive

“…: 349–50; also Torstendahl, 2003). In the following decades, the emphasis on epistemic virtues also characterized historical methodological writings in other languages; for example, the works of Charles Victor Langlois, Charles Seignobos, John Martin Vincent and Marc Bloch (Paul, 2011).…”