The great French historian Jules Michelet (1798-1874) sympathized with the French Middle Ages and with the Revolutionary epoch in France, yet he wrote his best work on the despotic French monarchy, which he despised.
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5) The statement above, if true, would most clearly support which of the following general claims about the writing of history?
A) Historians should keep personal opinions out of their historical writing.
B) The best history is not necessarily written by historians in sympathy with their subject.
C) Historians tend to write about historical subjects with which they sympathize.
D) It is difficult to write objectively about the French monarchy.
This one has to be easy?
Sra
To determine the correct answer, we need to carefully analyze the statement and understand its implications. The statement tells us that Jules Michelet sympathized with the French Middle Ages and the Revolutionary epoch, but wrote his best work on the despotic French monarchy, which he despised.
Option A, "Historians should keep personal opinions out of their historical writing," cannot be supported by this statement since it implies that personal opinions should be completely excluded from historical writing, which is not necessarily the case.
Option B, "The best history is not necessarily written by historians in sympathy with their subject," is a possible interpretation of the statement. The fact that Michelet wrote his best work on a subject he despised suggests that personal sympathy with a subject is not necessarily a determinant of the quality of historical writing.
Option C, "Historians tend to write about historical subjects with which they sympathize," is not supported by the statement. While it is true that Michelet sympathized with the French Middle Ages and the Revolutionary epoch, his best work was on the despotic French monarchy, which he despised. Therefore, his writing does not align with his personal sympathies.
Option D, "It is difficult to write objectively about the French monarchy," is not explicitly supported by the statement. While it can be inferred that Michelet may have faced challenges in writing objectively about a subject he despised, the statement does not directly address the difficulty of objective writing about the French monarchy.
Based on these evaluations, option B, "The best history is not necessarily written by historians in sympathy with their subject," is the most accurate general claim that can be inferred from the statement.