It has popularly been assumed that the tools of psychology, sociology, historical analysis, anthropology etc. can pry away facades to arrive at an objective understanding of historical phenomena, of the "deep underlying causes". What we forget is that "objectivity" itself represents an approach to history that is peculiar to the Western historical tradition. Therefore, any discussion that employs the criteria of "objectivity" is not in fact "objective". It simply interprets history within a culturally-philosophically determined framework. By employing what we think is objectivity, we emasculate our subject by examining it only in imposed contexts of form, purpose and empirical manifestation. Because of this, Western historical and philosophical thinking is a constant circle that never gets anywhere because it attempts to find a world of reality "out there" in a concrete sense, and not "in there", in the world of the human being and his or her social context, in the irrational, the downright ludicrous that often characterises our lives - in fact, that makes us human.
As holistic beings, humankind can only be fully appreciated holistically. This means treating human myths, dreams, and the irrational in humankind as essential parts of human history. Myth can no longer be the exclusive reserve of the anthropologist, the psychologist or the historian of religion. Economic theories, for example, may be important but in a holistic approach can we study economics without taking vanity and greed into account? The human experience cannot be divided into academically approachable categories.
