"Elton’s fundamental reason for wishing to emphasise technique over content appears to have been a deeply ironic one: a fear that historical study might have the power to transform us, to help us think more effectively about our society and its possible need for reform and reformation. Although it strikes me as strange in the case of someone who spent his life as a professional educator, Elton clearly felt that this was a consummation devoutly to be stopped. Much safer to keep on insisting that facts alone are wanted."
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Jews from the United KingdomJews from GermanyPhilosophers from GermanyHistorians from GermanyEducators from Germany
Original Language: English
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Quentin Skinner, "The practice of history and the cult of the fact", Visions of Politics (2002)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Elton
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Geoffrey Elton
Sir Geoffrey Rudolph Elton FBA (born Gottfried Rudolf Otto Ehrenberg; 17 August 1921 – 4 December 1994) was a German-born British political and constitutional historian who specialised in the Tudor period. He taught at Clare College, Cambridge, and was the Regius Professor of Modern History there from 1983 to 1988.
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