Marc Bloch
The Principle of Doubt
Métier d'Historien (1949) 36
In this brief paragraph from Métier d'Historian (translated as The Historian's Craft), Bloch points to the moment when the key question about history was answered. The question was: Given the corruption of the sources, is history possible at all? The answer begins with Descartes' method: one starts by doubting, not believing. One then continues by developing techniques by which the question of doubt may rationally be answered, one way or the other.
Le vrai progrès est venu le jour où le doute s'est fait, comme disait Volney, "examinateur;"
True progress was made on the day when doubt was made, as Volney said, "the examiner;"où des règles objectives, en d'autres termes, ont été peu à peu élaborées
or in other words, when objective rules were little by little elaboratedqui, entre le mensonge et la vérité, permettent d'établir un tri.
which made it possible to establish a dividing line between the false and the true.Le Jésuite Papebroeck, auquel la lecture des Vies de Saints avait inspiré
The Jesuit Papebroeck, in whom the reading of the Lives of the Saints had inspiredune incoercible méfiance envers l'héritage du haut moyen âge tout entier,
an insuperable distrust toward the entire heritage of the Middle Ages,tenait pour faux tous les diplômes Mérovingiens, conservés dans les monastères.
regarded as false all the Merovingian charters preserved in the monasteries.Non, répondit, en substance, Mabillon, il y a incontestablement
No, replied Mabillon in effect, there are unarguablydes diplômes forgés de toutes pièces, remaniés, ou interpolés.
some charters which are wholly forged, or altered, or interpolated.Il en est aussi d'authentiques, et voici comment il est possible
There are also authentic ones, and here is how it is possiblede les distinguer les uns des autres. Cette année là - 1681,
to distinguish them from the others. In that year - 1681,l'année de la publication du De Re Diplomatica,
the year of the publication of De Re Diplomatica,une grande date en vérité dans l'histoire de l'esprit humain -
truly a great date in the history of the human spirit -la critique des documents d'archives fut définitivement fondée.
the criticical approach to archival documents was definitively established.
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