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    Understanding History

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    Curibang Micaila
    History can be defined in two ways: as a process involving the development of past events and social institutions, and as a social science that studies these processes. As a social science, history analyzes primary sources using methods like external and internal criticism to verify authenticity and credibility. Historians must consider context and multiple factors to understand the past. The interpretation of history involves dialog between historians and available evidence from the past.

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    Understanding History

    Uploaded by

    Curibang Micaila
    32 views48 pages
    History can be defined in two ways: as a process involving the development of past events and social institutions, and as a social science that studies these processes. As a social science, history analyzes primary sources using methods like external and internal criticism to verify authenticity and credibility. Historians must consider context and multiple factors to understand the past. The interpretation of history involves dialog between historians and available evidence from the past.

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    History can be defined in two ways: as a process involving the development of past events and social institutions, and as a social science that studies these processes. As a social science, history analyzes primary sources using methods like external and internal criticism to verify authenticity and credibility. Historians must consider context and multiple factors to understand the past. The interpretation of history involves dialog between historians and available evidence from the past.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    32 views48 pages

    Understanding History

    Uploaded by

    Curibang Micaila
    History can be defined in two ways: as a process involving the development of past events and social institutions, and as a social science that studies these processes. As a social science, history analyzes primary sources using methods like external and internal criticism to verify authenticity and credibility. Historians must consider context and multiple factors to understand the past. The interpretation of history involves dialog between historians and available evidence from the past.

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    The Nature

    and Scope of
    History as a
    Social
    Science
    History is defined in two
    ways:
    1. As a process, history includes the past as it
    happened, and which is being created

    Hence, “early history”, “contemporary history”,


    “the making of history” and “history in the making”

    History as a process pertains to the origin, growth


    and development of social institutions, events,
    social movement and other things concerning man
    History is defined in two
    ways:
    2. History is a social science
    - it is the study on the inquiry that the
    historian makes about these broad social processes
    in their cultural, temporal and spatial context.
    How is history different from
    other social science discipline?

    History deals with the evolution or the


    progress and change in those
    specific concerns through time
    Definition of History
     derived from the Greek noun ἱστορία
    ἱστορία (historia) = learning; inquiry

     “the past of mankind”

     Geschichte = the German word for history


    Geschehen = to happen

    - Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History


    Definition of History

    History - chronological record of significant events, the


    study of past events.

    -Webster’s Vest Pocket Dictionary(Springfield:


    Merriam Webster, Inc., Publishers), p. 149
    KASAYSAYAN IN THE
    LANGUAGE AND PERSPECTIVE
    OF FILIPINO

    KASAYSAYAN
    • saysay (narrative or salaysay)
    • saysay (relevance, importance)
    • If relevant, for whom?
    • Zeus Salazar definition: Salaysay na may saysay para
    sa sinasalaysayang grupo ng tao (Relevant
    stories/narrative of the people).
    “If you talk to a man in a language
    he understands, that goes to his
    head. If you talk to him in his
    language, that goes to his heart.”

    -Nelson Mandela
    History as Reconstruction

    – the historian is many times removed from the events


    under investigation

    – historians rely on surviving records


    History Defined by E.H. Carr

    – the inquiry conducted by the historian and the series of past events
    into which he inquires
    – is the continuous process of interaction between the historian and
    his facts, an unending dialogue between the present and the past
    – History means interpretation
    – History is what the historian makes
    – History is the re-enactment in the historian's mind of the thought whose
    history he is studying. -Collingwood

    – History is the historian's experience.


    -Oakeshott

    – History is “a selective system” not only of cognitive, but of causal,


    orientations to reality. -Parsons
    – “Only a part of what was observed in the
    past was remembered by those who
    observed it; only a part of what was
    remembered was recorded; only a part of
    what was recorded has survived; only a part
    of what has survived has come to the
    historian’s attention; only a part of what
    has come to their attention is credible; only
    a part of what is credible has been grasped,
    and only a part of what has been grasped
    can be expounded or narrated by the
    historian.”
    - Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History
    Historians have to verify sources, to
    date them, locate their place of origin
    and identify their intended functions

    Historical Method
    Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History

     The process of critically


    examining and analyzing the
    records and survivals of the
    past
    “Each generation of historians
    develops its own perspectives, and
    that our understanding of the past is
    constantly reshaped by the historian
    and the world he or she inhabits”
    -Howell & Prevenier
    Historical Sources

     These are objects from the past or testimonies concerning the past on
    which historians depend in order to create their own depiction of that
    past.
    - Howell and Prevenier, From Reliable Sources an
    Introduction to Historical Method

     Tangible remains of the past - Anthony


    Brundage, Going to Sources
    Historical Sources
     materials used for the writing of
    history.
    They are classified into two:
    1. Primary Sources
    2. Secondary Sources
    Another type of classification are:
    1. written and non-written,
    2. published or unpublished,
    3. textual, oral or visual sources
    Written Sources

    1. Published materials
     Books, magazines, journals,
     Travelogue
     transcription of speech

    2. Manuscript [any handwritten or


    typed record that has not been
    printed]
     Archival materials
     Memoirs, diary
    Non- written Sources
    Oral history
    Artifact
    Ruins
    Fossils
    Art works
    Videorecordings
    Audiorecordings
    What are Primary Sources?
    Testimony of an eyewitness

    A primary source must have


    been produced by a
    contemporary of the event it
    narrates
    -Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History
     materials produced by people or
    groups directly involved in the event or
    topic being studied.
    they are either participants or
    witnesses.
    these sources range from eyewitness
    accounts, diaries, letters, legal
    documents, and official documents
    (government or private) and even
    photographs
    Four Main Categories of Primary Sources

    1. Written sources
    2. Images
    3. Artifacts
    4. Oral testimony
    What are Secondary Sources?

    A secondary source interprets


    and analyzes primary sources.
    These sources are one or more
    steps removed from the event.

    Secondary sources may have


    pictures, quotes or graphics of
    primary sources in them.
    - http://www.princeton.edu/~refdesk/primary2.html
    Examples of secondary sources:

    History textbook

    Printed materials (serials,


    periodicals which interprets
    previous research)
    (c) Google Image
    Adam and Eve
    Painter :Titian
    Date: Ca. 1550
    “ The historian without his fact
    is rootless and futile; the facts
    without their historian are
    dead and meaningless”

    - E. H. Carr
    What is Historical Criticism?

    What is Historical Criticism?


    In order for a source to be used as evidence in history,
    basic matters about its form and content must be settled

    1. External Criticism
    2. Internal Criticism
    What is External Criticism?

    The problem of authenticity

    To spot fabricated, forged, faked documents

    To distinguish a hoax or misrepresentation


    Tests of Authenticity

    1. Determine the date of the document to see whether they are


    anachronistic
    e.g. pencils did not exist before the 16th Century

    2. Determine the author


    e.g. handwriting, signature, seal

    - Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History


    Tests of Authenticity
    3. Anachronistic style
    e.g. idiom, ortography, punctuation

    4. Anachronistic reference to events


    e.g. too early, too late, too remote

    5. Provenance or custody
    - determines its genuineness
    - Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History
    6. Semantics – determining the meaning of a text or
    word

    7. Hermeneutics – determining ambiguities

    -Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History


    What is Internal Criticism

    The Problem of Credibility


    Relevant particulars in the document – is it credible?
    Verisimilar – as close as what really happened from a
    critical examination of best available sources

    - Louis Gottschalk, Understanding


    History
    Tests of Credibility

    1. Identification of the author


    e.g. to determine his reliability; mental
    processes, personal attitudes

    2. Determination of the approximate date


    3. Ability to tell the truth
    - nearness to the event, competence of witness,
    degree of attention
    4. Willingness to tell the truth
    - to determine if the author consciously or
    unconsciously tells falsehoods
    5. Corroboration
    i.e. historical facts – particulars which rest upon the
    independent testimony of two or more reliable witnesses

    - Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History


    Three Major Components to
    Effective Historical Thinking

    1. Sensitivity to Multiple Causation

    2. Sensitivity to Context

    3. Awareness of the interplay of continuity and change in


    human affairs
    “All historians, whatever their professional status, have
    ethical obligations to be humane, accurate, selfaware and
    judicious.”

    - Ludmilla Jordanova
    Acknowledgment/References:

    – Ma. Florina Orillos-Juan, Ph.D. Department of History, De


    la Salle University Manila

    – Gottschalk, L.(1969). Understanding History: A Primer of


    Historical Method. New York: A.A. Knopf.
    – Howell, M. & Walter, P.(2001).From Reliable Sources:An
    Introduction to Historical Methods.Ithaca, New
    York:Cornell University Press.

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