Editing Fact (section)

==In history==
{{Further|Historiography}}

A common rhetorical cliché states, "[[History is written by the winners]]". This phrase suggests but does not examine the use of facts in the writing of history.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}

[[E. H. Carr]] in his 1961 volume ''[[What is History?]]'' argues that the inherent biases from the gathering of facts makes the objective truth of any historical [[perspective (cognitive)|perspective]] [[idealistic]] and impossible. Facts are, "like fish in the Ocean", of which we may only happen to catch a few, only an indication of what is below the surface. Even a dragnet cannot tell us for certain what it would be like to live below the Ocean's surface. Even if we do not discard any facts (or fish) presented, we will always miss the majority; the site of our fishing, the methods undertaken, the weather and even luck play a vital role in what we will catch. Additionally, the composition of history is inevitably made up by the compilation of many different biases of fact finding – all compounded over time. He concludes that for a historian to attempt a more objective method, one must accept that history can only aspire to a conversation of the present with the past – and that one's methods of fact gathering should be openly examined. The set of highlighted historical facts, and their interpretations, therefore changes over time, and reflect present consensuses.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}