In search of Ariadne’s thread

Abstract

Southgate, a prolific author on the nature of history, views it as a game with rules. But they are self-defined rules and in applying those rules we have a duty of care to the past. In a personalized autobiography Southgate leads us through what he describes as ‘the maze’ of completing his thesis, and his intellectual journey via the work of Richard Popkin and towards and through scepticism. Southgate also acknowledges his intellectual debt to Keith Jenkins’ efforts to understand how the history we create has shaped our own world. He then describes the bifurcated nature of his thinking on truth, existentialism and the creation of history. His conclusion on the educative functioning of history is illuminating – and Ariadne’s thread remains a revealing figure.