WHY DO WE QUESTION ?

I NEVER JUDGE THE ABILITY OF

MY STUDENTS WITH THE
ACCURACY OF THE ANSWERS
THEY PRODUCE FOR MY
QUESTIONS BUT WITH THE
QUESTIONS THEY PUT
FORWARD……

DR. S. RADHAKRISHNAN
 ?
WHAT IS HISTORY
The George Macaulay Trevelyan lectures
delivered in the University of Cambridge
January – March 1961

By
EDWARD HALLETT CARR
Fellow of Trinity College

GROUP ‘D’
SOCIETY, INDIVIDUAL AND HISTORY

 Society and the individual are inseparable: they are

necessary and complementary to each other, not
opposites.
 Donne says ‘No man is an island, entire of itself,
every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the
main.’
 Anthropologists say that primitive man is less
individual and more completely moulded by his
society than civilized man.
 The development of society and the development of
the individual go hand in hand,and condition each
other.
SOCIETY, INDIVIDUAL AND HISTORY

 Civilized man, like primitive man is moulded

by society just as effectively as society is
moulded by him.
 The cult of individualism is one of the most
pervasive of modern historical myths.
Individualism was the basis of the great
nineteenth-century philosophy of
utilitarianism.
 A social revolution brings about new social
groups to positions of power.
SOCIETY, INDIVIDUAL AND HISTORY

 The historian,then,is an individual human

being.Like other individuals,he is also a
social phenomenon,both the product and the
concious or unconcious spokesperson of the
society to which he belongs :it is this capacity
he approaches the facts of the historical past.
 Great history is written precisely when the
historian’s vision of the past is illuminated by
insights into the problems of the present.
THE HISTORIAN AND HIS FACTS

It was from Germany, the country which was to

do so much to upset, the comfortable reign of
19th century liberalism, that the first challenge
came in the 1880s and 1890s to the doctrine of
the primacy and autonomy of the facts in
history
[pg no. 14-15]
THE HISTORIAN AND HIS FACTS

The facts are really not at all like fish on the

fishmonger’s slab. They are like fish swimming
about in a vast and sometimes inaccessible
ocean; and what the historian catches will
depend partly on chance but mainly on what
part of the ocean he chooses to fish in.. and
what tackle he chooses to use – these two
factors being of course determined by the kind
of fish he wants to catch. By and large, the
historian will get the kind of facts he wants.
[pg. no. 18]
THE HISTORIAN AND HIS FACTS

The past which a historian studies is not a dead

past, but a past which in some sense is still
living in the present and that the main work of
the historian is not to record, but to evaluate;
for, if he does not evaluate, how can he know
what is worth recording
[pg. no. 16, 15]
THE HISTORIAN AND HIS FACTS

The historian is necessarily selective. The fact

that we reached in this room few minutes ago
after taking our lunch is just as much a fact
about the past as the fact that India got freedom
in 1947. But it will most probably be ignored
by historians
THE HISTORIAN AND HIS FACTS

And so, history can be defined as a continuous

process of interaction between the historians
and his facts and unending dialogue between
the present and the past

Interpretation is the life blood of history.

[pg. no. 24, 22]
HISTORY, SCIENCE AND MORALITY

Examining fundamental distinction between

science and history:
1.History deals exclusively with the unique,
science with the general
2.History teaches lessons through generalization
3.History is unable to predict
4.History is necessarily subjective
5.History involves issues of religion and morality
What is GOD to a historian?
HISTORY, SCIENCE AND MORALITY

The hypotheses used by the historian is

remarkably similar to that of the hypotheses
used by the scientist
Some of the hypotheses in history are:
1.Division of history into periods
2.Division of history into geographical sectors
A GLANCE AT HISTORICAL INTERPRETATIONS

 1857 Revolt vs. Mutiny

 Nude portrayals – Ravi Verma – M.F.
Hushain – Exile
CAUSATION IN HISTORY

What is the cause of Robinson’s Death?

Jones, returning from a party at which he has
consumed more than his usual ration of
alcohol, in a car whose brakes turn out to have
been defective, at a blind corner where
visibility is notoriously poor, knocks down and
kills Robinson, who was crossing the road to
buy cigarettes at the shop on the corner.
[pg. no. 98]

Rational vs. Accidental Causes

CAUSATION IN HISTORY

History - marshalling the events of the past in

an orderly sequence of cause and effect
The causes determine historian’s interpretation
of the historical process, and his interpretation
determines his selection and marshalling of the
causes
The fact is that all human actions are both free
and determined, according to the point of view
from which one considers them
CAUSATION IN HISTORY

The world of the historian, like the world of the

scientist, is not a photographic copy of the real
world
But rather a working model which enables him
more or less effectively to understand it and to
master it

Historians do not assume that events are

inevitable before they have taken place
CAUSATION IN HISTORY

History begins with the handling down of

tradition; and tradition means the
carrying of the habits and lessons of the
past into the future. Records of the past
begin to be kept for the benefit of future
generations.
THE WIDENING HORIZON

Now, it has become possible for the first time

even to imagine a whole world consisting of
people who have in the fullest sense entered
into history and become the concern. No longer
of the colonial administrator or of the
anthropologist, but of the historian

This is a revolution in our conception of

history. Till 18th century, history was a
prerogative of the elites
[pg. no. 144]
CRITICAL REFLECTIONS

Like Marx and all other

philosophers….Carr also seem to be in a
hurry………… hurry to conclude.. and in
doing so what he misses out most probably is
that every socio-economic reality is a
dynamic activity…………. and so is history.
CRITICAL REFLECTIONS

How far is it possible for the observer

to keep him/herself away from the
observed ???

The unending debate on subjectivity

vs. objectivity !!!
THINK OF IT !!

How many times we question our

questions before forwarding it in front
of a person powered by the
state……………

Just as the kings came out of our

oblivion, the state may emerge with our
silence !!!
 The Group “D” Team
PUNYASIL RAJNA MEHRA

RAVI RANJAN RIKA GUITE

RITU RAJ RUPESH SHERSHTA

SACHIN DHAR SAKSHI LAMBA

SANGEETHA SARITHA

SATYA PRIYA SHAHBAZ

SHAIJU CHACKO