{"id":36808,"date":"2024-03-16T11:03:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-16T18:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=36808"},"modified":"2024-03-16T11:03:00","modified_gmt":"2024-03-16T18:03:00","slug":"bias-and-critical-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/bias-and-critical-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Bias and Critical History"},"content":{"rendered":"

By what information do we form our perceptions, opinions and future behavior? Psychologist point out that people are not entirely rational and rely on shortcuts called \u201cbiases\u201d to make sense of information. One particular bias that seems relevant for a reflection of historical events and their impact on the present and future is called the \u201cavailability heuristic.\u201d This particular bias relies on available and prevalent information to make judgements and is susceptible to how familiar an event or idea is perceived to be [1].\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This cognitive bias came to mind as I read Nigel Biggar\u2019s book, Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning<\/i>. Bigger seeks to dive into the academic discipline of colonial studies and, to his initial surprise, a cultural position that is critical of the British Empire\u2019s colonial present. Bigger summarizes this way, “\u201cThis unscrupulous indifference to historical truth indicates that the controversy over empire is not really a controversy about history at all. It is about the present, not the past\u201d[2]. In other words, Biggar is not addressing a purely academic study of Britain\u2019s past, but the very identity of the British people. He states it this way, “What is at stake is not merely the pedantic truth about yesterday, but the self-perception and self-confidence of the British people today, and the way they conduct themselves in the world tomorrow\u201d[3].\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Challenge of Critical History<\/b><\/p>\n

Biggar\u2019s begins his book by recounting how he inadvertently stumbled into this controversial subject that, he admits, is somewhat outside his academic field. Yet, being trained in ethics and pastoral theology provides an unique perspective on how one can provide and judge the moral obligation and responsibility for the history of people and governments. This is the problem from Bigger\u2019s perspective. Much of the work within critical history concerning colonialism is not merely an academic exercise, as it has far-reaching implications as it undermines the place of West in the global landscape. As Biggar states, \u201cThus, academic post-colonialism is an ally – no doubt, inadvertent – of Vladimir Putin\u2019s regime in Russia and the Chinese Communist Party, which are determined to expand their own (respectively) authoritarian and totalitarian power at the expense of the West\u201d[4].\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bigger has amassed plenty of criticism for his moral assessment of the past and present British colonialism. Central to the criticism is that Biggar is not an historian, to which Biggar replies that he is evaluating the moral implications of the history in question[5]. In responses to his critics and to offer transparency of his perspective, Biggars summarizes his positions as the following[6]:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. We ought not judge the past by the present\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Ethics are shaped by Christian conviction<\/li>\n
  3. Human\u2019s are basically equal – dignity<\/li>\n
  4. People and Governments should pursue their interests<\/li>\n
  5. History contains injustice<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In his conclusion, Biggars summarizes the \u201cevils\u201d of British colonialism as \u201c\u2026brutal slavery; the epidemic spread of devastating disease; economic and social disruptions; the unjust displacement of natives by settlers; failures of colonial government to prevent settler abuse\u2026\u201d[7]. He goes on to conclude that none of these are as morally equivalent to the atrocities of Nazi Germany agains the Jews[8].\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    It is at this point that I wonder if Biggars is making the same critical error of availability bias that many of his critics are making against his position. Given the increases prevalence of critical history and criticism of past governments and social action against whole groups of people, many may uncritically assume the position of judging the past by the present. This seems to be the same tactic used by Biggar to argue against whole-sale judgement of the past British Empire by appealing to a resent historical atrocity. Essentially using the argument that the British Empire\u2019s history is not as bad when compared to Nazi Germany. This does not absolve the \u201cevils\u201d but does invite evaluation, which seems to be Biggar\u2019s point in making the comparison.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Conclusion<\/b><\/p>\n

    Admittedly, I was not familiar with the issues presented by Biggar and the past, present and future controversy concerning colonialism of the British Empire. I appreciated the critical examination of the complex history of slavery, land ownership and implications this has on the current global position of Western countries. I did find Biggar\u2019s conclusion that history is morally complicated to be compelling. There are no simple solutions to the complex relationships and historical decisions made by past governments. That does not free present governments or people from critically examining the past, yet the moral implications must be considered in determining current and future obligations. The reality is that all empires are complex and space must be made to wade into the complexity of the history for the sake of the future.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u200c1. Cass R. Sunstein, “Hazardous Heuristics” (University of Chicago Public Law & Legal Theory Working Paper No. 33, 2002).<\/p>\n

    2. Nigel Biggar, Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning (HarperCollins UK, 2023), p. 3.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    3. Ibid., 7.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    4. Ibid., 5.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    5. John Lloyd, \u201cColonialism and Its Discontents,\u201d Quillette, February 6, 2023, https:\/\/quillette.com\/2023\/02\/06\/colonialism-and-its-discontents\/.<\/p>\n

    6. Beggars, 8-12.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    7. Ibid., 276.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    8. Ibid.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By what information do we form our perceptions, opinions and future behavior? Psychologist point out that people are not entirely rational and rely on shortcuts called \u201cbiases\u201d to make sense of information. One particular bias that seems relevant for a reflection of historical events and their impact on the present and future is called the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":163,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3135,2347],"class_list":["post-36808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bigger","tag-dlgp01","cohort-dlgp01"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/163"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36808"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36809,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36808\/revisions\/36809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}