The thing that stood out the most in this week’s readings, besides Sahlins’s stand-up routine, is Sewell’s explanation of why historians are drawn towards Geertz’s synchronic notion of culture. Sewell points out that even though historians are typically seen as being dedicated to history as a series of events (diachronically), Geertz’s framework allows historians the… [Read more…]
September 28, 2009
Novick’s That Noble Dream, as a history of objectivity, is a wonderful book. Before reading it, I had the somewhat naïve view that a commitment to objectivity (in some fashion or another) has always been the standard. In the philosophical tradition, the pre-Socratics, Plato, Aristotle, and many who followed all had a dedication to reason,… [Read more…]
September 20, 2009
As the title of Wood’s book suggests, she is looking for the origin of capitalism, which is counter to the commercialization model (and its different incarnations) that maintains capitalism is something that has always been around. In other words, Wood is in search of the qualitative change in history from pre-capitalism to capitalism. She rejects… [Read more…]
October 4, 2009
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