Confronted with a readymade statement about the subject he is studying, the scientific historian never asks himself: ‘Is this statement true or false?’ In other words, ‘Shall I incorporate it in my history of that subject or not?’ The question he asks himself is: ‘What does this statement mean?’ And this is not equivalent to the question, ‘What did the person who made it mean by it?’, although that is doubtless a question that the historian must ask, and must be able to answer. It is equivalent, rather, to the question, ‘What light is thrown on the subject in which I am interested by the fact
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