The beautiful dream of objectivity

Monday Memo: July 27 AD2026

Hello readers,

Thank you for sticking with me as this Substack continues to grow. We’re at 400 subscribers and I can’t wait till we hit 500. I am grateful for all of you who take time to read each week.

Unfortunately, I have a cold, and I am loath to write too much because when I have a cold, that’s when I am more likely to let more than the typical typos slip in. I also have to finish a chapter of my book, and send comments to a colleague whose work I read this weekend. It is like colds schedule themselves for the least convenient times.

So I’ll be brief and just mention a bit about objectivity that came up in my class recently. One of the things I try to teach my students is that everyone has bias, but bias should never excuse a historian from attempting to be objective. What I mean is that it is not a purity test, everyone has viewpoints, but it is an intentionality test. You should intend to be faithful to the facts as you have them.

Do you intend to present history in a way that reflects the evidence that you have gathered and assembled? Have you considered counter evidence and arguments made by other historians and treated them seriously? Or have you arrived at a topic with a conclusion and then sought to confirm your conclusion? These are the questions I ask my students who are studying to be professional historians to consider as they learn to the tools of the craft.

If you cannot make the attempt, then you do not belong in the guild.
Effort matters.

George Washington’s Grist Mill - photo credit me

Objectivity is the goal, even when unobtainable in its absolute form, because of the ethical need for honesty. Put another way, objectivity is a target, not a myth. Absolute viewpoint neutrality may be unattainable, but striving for it is an ethical obligation because of the trust usually placed in historians by the public. The unreachability of the ideal does not negate the necessity of having an ideal.

That is why it is a beautiful dream, the undiscovered country. And that pursuit of discovery makes telling the story more rewarding for the historian and the audience. You have to love the process and enjoy the effort. And hopefully my love of the subjects will come out in the posts and podcasts I have planned for August. It will be a big month.

(Okay, that’s what I can get out right now between coughing fits.)

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