LogFAQs > #959808668

Modest_Mouse posted...

the name is also stupid, what is theoretical about history

Literally all of history is theoretical. History is comprised of interpretations of evidence, including subjective accounts of events that have already been passed through multiple interpretive lenses before reaching modern historians, who then also subjectively interpret which accounts are the most credible and ultimately arrive at a theory that most (local) historians can agree on. It's an account of factual events, yes, but so is the Big Bang Theory (the science, not the sitcom).

The entire concept of theories exists to make sense of facts that cannot be directly measured, and that very handily describes history. Anyone that tries to insist that history is strictly factual is just trying to avoid having to re-evaluate their understanding of it in response to new information.

---

This is my signature. It exists to keep people from skipping the last line of my posts.