[Reader-list] History and archival freedom of the subject etc.

[Prem Chandavarkar]

On 08/01/2008, ARNAB CHATTERJEE <apnawritings at yahoo.co.in> wrote:
>
> Prem :
> That a positvist de -temporality you don't understand,
> I cannot believe that. All scientific paradigms,
> formulas are readily a temporal.


I did not say that I do not understand. One would be blind to claim that it
does not exist - clearly it is not only prevalent but is also predominant.
I just wondered about two points:

   1. Should one continue to justify or validate a positivist
   de-temporality in history as a discipline?
   2. Can one address questions of archive without first addressing
   questions of history as a discipline?

I am traveling over the next one week, with infrequent access to mail, so
will drop out of this discussion for a while. Which may be for the best, as
I realise I have just been causing digressions, and at no stage have I
touched your original question of whether there are forms of history that
are free of archival dependence.
Regards and all the best,
Prem