Do historians make moral judgements?

by abhinaba2001

I have always wondered whether historians need to be detached from their field of study. Should historians studying the history of a particular culture or empire be allowed to comment on whether they were too violent, too " backwards" , too bigoted , not tolerant enough stuff like that?

boccraeft

There is always more to be said on the topic as methods, philosophies, and so on evolve, but you may find these previous threads and their answers helpful:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/5fqvv4/should_historians_withhold_moral_judgement/

/u/baronzaterdag

/u/Iguana_on_a_stick

/u/alriclofgar

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2510l9/meta_as_historians_do_you_make_moral_judgements/

/u/depanneur

/u/MootMute

/u/asdjk482

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1dvycy/should_historians_make_moral_judgments_about_the/

/u/Algernon_Asimov

/u/restricteddata

/u/moraluck

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/4mgua2/does_presentism_have_anything_to_do_with_making/

/u/Searocksandtrees

/u/CommodoreCoCo

/u/alriclofgar

/u/Iguana_on_a_stick

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/7wcuin/the_historian_as_a_moralist/

/u/commiespaceinvader

/u/silverappleyard

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1yhss0/should_we_as_historians_make_moral_judgements/

/u/histomat

Also, here is a post by /u/commiespaceinvader talking about the role of empathy in the work of historians:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/6qn4k3/monday_methods_we_talk_about_actual_human_beings/