“Ah, well! They may write such things — [Humpty Dumpty's rhyme] — in a book. . .That's what you call a History of England, that is” — Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
It may be impossible to recover the past tel quel, but it is possible to say true or false things about it, and to draw true or false, humane or cruel, conclusions or morals. The Law and Medicine, for example, both value, and depend on, quite precise case histories as instructive precedents and, sometimes, as awful warnings. The fact that there are variant accounts of a crime, and the possibility of false witness, does not prevent us, in general, from having some faith in the judicial process (even aggrieved radicals regularly call for “impartial inquiries”). — Frederic Raphael, “Basse couture,” Times Literary Supplement, 15 October 2010
Last modified 12 January 2024