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THETRUTHOFSPORT
uitwilldiminishreaders)curiosityandinterest”
.Asamatteroffactheaddedthat
hedidsoinordertoemphasizełthetruth.”6
Ifcertainancientepochssuferfrequentlyfromlackofsources,modern
timeshaveumountainsoffacts”attheirdisposal.Asaresult,historianhaveno
choice,bututosinkafewexperimentaltunnelsandexaminewhattheybring
up”orheumayemployacorpsofminerstodothepreliminarysifingforhim.”7
OscarHandlin,inhisfamousworkTruthinHistory,wasfrightenedtoseethat
umountingpilesofprintoutraiseabarrierbetweenauthorandhissubjects.”8
Tus,itiscomparativelyeasytoselectsomefacts,ignoringpilesofothermate-
rials,inordertoproducefalsifiedhistory,comprisedexclusivelyofone-sidedly
chosen.
AsFrancisMacdonaldCornfordoncewrote,theonlysolutioninsuchasitu-
ationdependsonaparticularhistorianandthatuchoiceoffactstoberecorded,
hisdistributionofemphasisamongthem,hissenseofhissignificanceandrela-
tiveproportion,mustbegovernedbyhisphilosophyoflife.”9
Itisthelifephilosophyofahistorian,hisexperience,interpretationofreal-
ityandprimarilyhiseagernesstoachieveobjectivitywhichisthebasisofany
honesthistoricalnarrative.uIntellectualhonesty”-Morisonsays-uisthequal-
itythatthepublicinfreecountriesalwayshasexpectedofhistorians.”10Hand-
lin,inturnaddsthatthehistoriansucceedsuonlythroughthecreativetension
thatarisesfromexercisingthefullpowerofhisimaginationandunderstanding
againsttheunyieldingevidencethatsurvivethepast.”11
Linguisticsismuchunderappreciateddomainamonghistorians,whichfre-
quentlyleadstonumerousmisunderstandingsofhistoricalsituationsbecause
ofincorrectlydefinedwords.Wordsmeandiferentthingsindiferentcultures,
andevendiferentthingsindiferentepochsofthesameculture.BertrandRus-
sellonceuponatimestressedtheroleoflogicandlanguageinthesearchfor
truth.Russellwrotethat:uIftherewereascienceofhistory,itsfactswouldbe
deducedfromgenerallaws,whichwouldcomefirstinthelogicalorder.Inthe
epistemologicalorder,mostofusarecontenttobelieve,about(say)JuliusCae-
sar,whatwefindinreliablebooks.Butthecriticalhistorianmustgotomanu-
scriptsandinscriptions;hisdataarecertainshapes,ofwhichtheinterpretation
6
Tucydides,meHistoryofthePeloponnesianWar,transl.RichardCrawley,London1967,I,22.
7
SamuelE.Morison,op.cit.,p.382.
8
OscarHandlin,TruthinHistory,Cambridge(MA)1979,p.12.
9
F[rancis]M[acdonald]Cornford,meUnwrittenPhilosophyandOtherEssays,Cambridge1950,p.I.
10SamuelE.Morrison,op.cit.,p.383.
11OscarHandlin,op.cit.,p.22.
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