Abstract
Statements which directly express a valuating attitude of the speaker or writer are usually termed valuating statements, moral judgements, or evaluations. They are also one of the elements of historical narratives. There has been an inveterate controversy over the issue whether evaluations, as distinct from descriptive statements, may be ascribed a logical value (truth or falsehood). Most specialists firmly reject that possibility and stress that evaluations are logically neutral; some try to defend the traditional concept of truth as applicable to valuating judgements; and still others either suggest a specific interpretation of the concept of truth as applied to valuating judgements, or, like M. Ossowska, claim that “even if it be held that norms can be neither true nor false in the traditional sense, i.e., in the sense of somehow agreeing or disagreeing with facts, this does not amount yet to refusing them all logical value”.1
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References
M. Ossowska, Podstawy nauki o moralnosci (The Foundations of the Science of Morals), Warszawa 1947, pp. 125–6. See also B. Mayo, Ethics and the Moral Life, New York 1958; A. Montefiore, A Modern Introduction to Moral Philosophy, New York 1958; J. Kmita, “Problem wartości logicznej ocen” (The Problem of the Logical Value of Evaluations), Studia Filozoficzne, No. 1/1964, pp. 119-37; M. Fritzhand, “Zagadnienie prawdy w etyce”(The Problem of Truth in Ethics), Studia Filozoficzne, No. 2/1966, pp. 11-34; J. Ve-tulani, “Wartość logiczna zdań wartościujących”(The Logical Value of Valua-ting Statements), Studia Filozoficzne, No. 2/1966, pp. 75-86.
This refers, obviously, to proper evaluations, and not to apparent ones, the latter to be discussed soon.
Cf. A. Malewski & J. Topolski, “Metoda materializmu historycznego w pra-cach historyków polskich”(The Method of Historical Materialism in the Works of Polish Historians), Studia Filozoficzne, No. 6/1959. Some formulations and examples used here are drawn from that paper.
T. Nowak, “Spór o role dziejową, obrony Jasnej Góry w 1655”(The Controversy over the Historical Role of the Defence of the Pauline Monastery in 1655), Przeglqd Historyczny, No. 1/1958, p. 164.
O. Górka, Legenda a rzeczywistość obrony Częstochowy w roku 1655 (The Defence of Częstochowa in 1655: Facts and Legends), Warszawa 1957, p. 164.
W. Konopczyński, Dzieje Polski nowożytnej (A Modern History of Poland), vol. II (1648 to 1795), 1936, p. 11.
A. M. Skałkowski, Z dziejów insurekcji 1794 (A History of the 1794 Insurrection), Warszawa 1926, p. 24.
Historia Polski (A History of Poland), vol. II, Part 2, Warszawa 1959, p. 426.
Ibid., Part 1, p. 369.
Cf. M. Ossowska, “O dwóch rodzajach ocen”(Two Types of Evaluations), Kwartalnik Filozoficzny, vol. XVI, No. 2-4, Krakow 1946, pp. 279–92.
Cf. J. Kmita’s paper quoted in footnote1 above.
A. Grynwasser, “Kwestia agrarna i ruch włościan w Królestwie Polskim w pierwszej polowie XIX wieku”(The Agrarian Problem and the Peasant Movements in the Congress Kingdom of Poland in the First Half of the 19th Century), in: Pisma (Selected Works), vol. II, WrocŁaw 1951, pp. 34–5.
V. G. Childe, What Happened in History, 1960, pp. 243–4.
K. Potkański, “Studia nad XIV wiekiem”(Studies on the 14th Century), in: Lechici, Polanie, Polska (The Lechici, the Polanie, Poland), Warszawa 1965, p. 630.
M. H. Serejski, Koncepcja historii powszechnej Joachima Lelewela (Joachim LelewePs Idea of Universal History), Warszawa 1958, p. 108.
A. Próchnik, Pierwsze piętnastolecie Polski niepodleglej (The First Fifteen Years of Independent Poland), Warszawa 1957, p. 111.
Historia Polski (A History of Poland), vol. II, Part 3, Warszawa 1959, p. 524.
Ibid., p. 488.
Cf. M. Ossowska, Podstawy nauki o moralności (The Foundations of the Science of Morals), ed. cit., pp. 40–1. For a detailed analysis of the adjectives good and bad see pp. 44-53.
S. Hoszowski, Rola folwarku pańszczyźnianego (The Role of Serfdom-based Manorial Farms), Proceedings of the Polish Historians’ First Conference on Methodology, vol. I, Warszawa 1953, pp. 489–90.
Ibid., p. 432.
Ibid., p. 491.
S. Arnold, Podloże gospodarczo-spoteczne polskiego Odrodzenia (The Socio-economic Background of the Renaissance in Poland), Warszawa 1954, p. 50.
S. Inglot, Introduction to K. Kluk’s O rolnictwie (On Agriculture), Warszawa 1954, p. XLII.
Historia Polski (A History of Poland), vol. I, Part 1, Warszawa 1957, p. 289.
Ibid., vol. II, Part 3, p. 130.
W. Kula, Rozwazania o historii (Reflections on History), éd. cit., p. 139.
A. Próchnik, op. cit., pp. 4-5.
W. Kula, op. cit., p. 144.
Ibid., p. 219.
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© 1976 PWN - Polish Scientific Publishers - Warszawa
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Topolski, J. (1976). Elements of Historical Narratives: Evaluations. In: Methodology of History. Synthese Library, vol 88. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-1123-5_27
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