Where do history and ethics meet?

The article analyzes the ethical potential of historical knowledge. To determine the place and value of moral judgments in historical writing, a preliminary explication of contexts in which this topic is discussed and can be discussed was made. It is shown that the analysis of the forms of the connection between history and ethics can be related to determining the place and object of ethical judgments in the historical text, as well as the expedience of moral judgments in relation to the past. It is noted that objections to the ethical involvement of historians are due to the absolutization of traditional forms of connection between history and ethics, and thus they cannot be a basis for the denial of such a connection. A thesis is made that a productive discussion of the problem requires preliminary actualization of the question of the conditions of historical interest. Identification of such conditions allows to assert that the ethical dimension should become the determining principle of the organization of historical knowledge and of directions of historical research. However, it is argued that the making of moral judgments should not be interpreted as a necessary part of each individual historical narrative. In other words, moral involvement is an immanent part of historical thought, but by no means an indispensable element of every historical narrative. A thesis is made that the making of moral judgments should not be a direct task of a historian as a member of the professional community. At the same time, the requirement of the search for truth should be understood as a requirement of professional rather than ordinary ethics; therefore, it cannot be regarded as a form of ethical involvement of the historian. Therefore, it is asserted that the connection between history and ethics presupposes the separation of the functions of research and moral judgment and is most productively realized as follows. The function of historical research should consist in the preparation and provision of materials to discuss the question of the moral validity of certain forms of the past and the present. It should be a collective discussion rather than an individual moral judgment making. It is stated that the historian is obliged to take part in such a polemic, but as an interested and competent citizen. Thus, such a discussion cannot be monopolized by individual professional communities, and the role of the historian should be interpreted as an ability to contribute to the discussion rather than to make a final judgment. In conclusion, topics are suggested in which the connection between history and ethics can be specified. First, it is the discussion of the "hot" past, which the public consciousness associates with the formation of an identity or sees as traumatic. Second, it is the discussion of the ways and prospects of creating, transforming or modifying some forms of social life (social institutions) and interpreting the past as a certain historical experience or a series of experiences.

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