by Will Katerberg Every year I teach a section of the history department's capstone course on historiography. The most basic questions in the course are: What is the nature of historical knowledge? Is objectivity possible? Is it necessarily desirable? How does historical thinking work? What is the purpose of historical study? To understand the world? To …
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by Will Katerberg. Take nothing for granted, I sometimes tell my students. Don’t assume that what a primary source tells you is accurate and true. The author might be a liar or a dupe, have an agenda, or be misinformed. Put the document in context. Check it against other sources. Be skeptical, even suspicious, before …
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by Will Katerberg. Today, I’m spending part of the day celebrating the July 4th Independence Day holiday. My neighborhood in Grand Rapids features the Hollyhock Lane Parade every year. It starts at 8:30am and has small floats, local and state politicians appealing to voters, kids on bikes and scooters, a historic fire engine, and the …
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by Will Katerberg. The battle for hearts and minds—and dollars—in higher education today often comes down to job training versus critical thinking. It sometimes is hard for advocates of becoming an artist or studying philosophy to even get a hearing. When they say that students should do what they love or argue that cultural life …
Continue reading Job Training Isn’t Enough (Neither Is Critical Thinking)
by Will Katerberg. It’s basic to modern historiography to draw a line between “critical history” and other ways of relating to the past, such as heritage, tradition, and memory. Most people don’t make this distinction. History is history. When they encounter it, "critical history" sometimes violates what they hold dear, making them angry or shaking …
Continue reading Critical History and Sacred Tradition: Introduction
Historical Horizons 