Historical discourse as fact-bound fiction

Johan Degenaar

pp. 65-80

in: Facts and values, Berlin, Springer, 1986

Abstract

The purpose of this essay is, first, to look at the nature of the fact-value distinction and to discuss some of the views which succeed in overcoming positivistic interpretations of this distinction. Secondly, I focus on one way in which facts and values are integrated in the writing of history, concentrating on narrativism according to which history is a translation of fact into fiction. In the third place, attention is given to the language used in the writing of Afrikaner history, illustrating the way in which narrative provides the regulative framework in which historical events are recounted. In conclusion I point out that without an integrated relationship between fact and value the understanding of the world and of history would be inconceivable.