Re: [tips] HH Goddard

[Christopher D. Green]

Aubyn Fulton wrote: Aubyn wrote.... While I also agree that it is crucial to take historical context and standards into account, the mere fact (assuming it is indeed fact) that re-touching photos for publication to reinforce a point was common does not necessarily legitimate or excuse the practice. Christopher wrote... If the practices of a particular time and place don't set the parameters for "good" and "bad" behavior, then what would? Certainly one's own intuitions (conditioned as they are by one's own time and place) don't serve as better guidelines. Aubyn writes... I do agree with your second sentence above. But I do not think that we can just conclude that whatever most people do at any particular point in history must be taken as "good". I don't either. It's a much more complicated question than that, to be sure, but whatever the answer is, assuming one's own "standards" as the default is a wholly inadequate procedure as well. One must refer to the standards, issues, practices, pressures, etc. of the time. That said, historians don't actually spend much of their time *evaluating* past actions. The goal is usually said to be to "understand" them. Expending much effort to "praise" or "condemn" is generally regarded as evidence that the researcher in question is more interested in making a polemical point about the present rather than being interested primarily in the past (pace, e.g., Gould). Regards, -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3J 1P3 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] phone: 416-736-5115 ext. 66164 fax: 416-736-5814 http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ ============================ . --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]