Truth
| Module title | Truth |
|---|---|
| Module code | HIH3330 |
| Academic year | 2025/6 |
| Credits | 30 |
| Module staff | Dr Richard Ward (Lecturer) |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 10 |
| Number students taking module (anticipated) | 32 |
|---|
Module description
This module explores the concept of “truth” as it has been understood at different times, places, and contexts in the past. The twenty-first century has been called an era of “post-truth” and of “alternative facts”, in which the authority of “experts” has been brought into question. Whilst there are unique elements to this twenty-first-century conception of truth, it is not the only moment when the idea of truth has been contested. Indeed, the notion of truth is historically contingent. On what grounds have truth claims been made, and how has this differed across time and space? In this module, we’ll look at how people in the past distinguished between what was “true” and what was “false”. We’ll look at how knowledge has been created, disseminated, and evaluated, and by whom. We’ll consider issues such as “fake news”, censorship, and the history of “facts”, “experts”, and “objectivity”. We’ll examine the relationship between truth and things such as communication technology and colonialism. And we’ll look at truth in different contexts, from religion to medicine and the law. This historical perspective on how truth has been constructed in different times, places, and contexts provides a valuable resource for reassessing the contested nature of truth in the twenty-first century.
Module aims - intentions of the module
This ‘Concepts’ module requires you to engage with historical ideas and theories relating to "truth” that are applicable across time and space. You will be encouraged to think beyond the detail of your Special Subjects and Dissertations, using a range of illustrative case studies to examine broader ideas. You will have to consider how ideas and concepts about truth vary, develop, or manifest consistently in different time periods and places, and why they are constructed as they are. What can this tell us about past peoples and societies, and what are the implications for the world in which we now live?
All History ‘Concepts’ modules are partly project-based, requiring you to take the initiative. In the first half of term, a team of tutors will introduce themes, concepts, and ideas, setting you up for the rest of the module. The second half of term is student-led: you will work in groups to develop your understanding of “truth” and lead a seminar to teach fellow students more about "truth” through a series of case-studies.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. Analyse and explain key developments in the histories of truth across different historical time-periods and geographical regions
- 2. Evaluate carefully and critically the approaches that historians and scholars working in other disciplines have taken to the concept of truth
- 3. Define suitable research topics for independent study/student-led seminars on the history of truth
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 4. Analyse the key developments in complex and unfamiliar political, social, cultural or intellectual environments
- 5. Evaluate different and complex types of historical source and historiography.
- 6. Present work in the format expected of historians, including footnoting and bibliographical references.
- 7. Identify and deploy correct terminology in a comprehensible and sophisticated manner.
- 8. Evaluate critically different approaches to history in a contested area.
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 9. Work both in a team and independently in order to prepare and lead a seminar.
- 10. Digest, select and organise material to produce, to a deadline, a coherent and cogent argument, developed through the mode of assessment.
Syllabus plan
While content may vary from year to year, it is anticipated that the module may cover some or all of the following:
- Changing historical definitions of truth.
- The ways in which knowledge has been created, disseminated, and evaluated.
- “Fake news”.
- Censorship.
- Indigenous knowledge.
- The impact of changes in communication technology, such as printing, television and the internet.
- The rise of “knowledge” institutions, such as universities and museums.
- The emergence, and changing place, of “experts”, along with the notion of “expertise”.
- Notions of “fact” and “objectivity”.
- The concept of truth within different contexts, such as the law, religion, medicine, and politics.
- The relationship between truth and categories such as gender and race.
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 27 | 273 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled learning and teaching | 9 | 9 x 1-hour workshops |
| Scheduled learning and teaching | 2 | 2 x 1-hour lectures |
| Scheduled learning and teaching | 16 | Seminars (tutor-led = 5x2 hours; student-led = 6x1 hour) |
| Guided independent study | 273 | Reading and preparation for seminars, workshops, and assessment |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seminar plan and schedule of work | 1000 words | 1-9 | Oral |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Student-led seminar, including supporting materials | 45 | 1 hour | 1-9 | Written |
| Written assignment | 45 | 3000 words | 1,2,4-8,10 | Written |
| Attendance at student-led seminars and support workshops | 5 | Attendance at student-led seminars and support workshops | 9 | N/A |
| Full completion of ELE log | 5 | Full completion of ELE log | 9 | N/A |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Student-led seminar, including supporting materials | 5-minute recorded introduction to the topic; 10-minute recording explaining supporting materials and intentions for their use in a seminar; supporting materials | 1-9 | Referral/Deferral Period |
| Written assignment (3000 words) | Written assignment (3000 words) | 1,2,4-8,10 | Referral/Deferral Period |
Re-assessment notes
The re-assessment consists of a 3000-word Written Assignment, as in the original assessment, but replaces leading a student-led seminar with recordings and supporting materials that correspond to one student’s contribution to such a seminar. The introduction should outline the student’s understanding of the topic; the longer recording should explain how the seminar would be structured and organised, as well as detailing the material to be used. This will enable the marker to gain a sense of what the student’s understanding of their concept and its specific application in the seminar, what the student intended to do in the seminar, and the rationale for this activity, as well as enabling them to assess the student’s oral seminar-leading skills.
Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.
Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
Eric H. Ash, Expertise: Practical Knowledge and the Early Modern State (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2010).
Peter Burke, What is the History of Knowledge? (Oxford: Wiley, 2015).
James D. Fisher, The Enclosure of Knowledge: Books, Power and Agrarian Capitalism in Britain, 1660-1800 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022).
Michel Foucault, Archaeology of Knowledge (London: Routledge, 1969).
Martin Muslow, Knowledge Lost: A New View of Early Modern Intellectual History (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2022).
Mary Poovey, A History of the Modern Fact: Problems of Knowledge in the Sciences of Wealth and Society (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998).
Steven Shapin, A Social History of Truth: Civility and Science in Seventeenth-Century England (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011).
| Credit value | 30 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 15 |
| NQF level (module) | 6 |
| Available as distance learning? | Yes |
| Last revision date | 04/09/2024 |
