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History's Creative Imagination

1) The document discusses Agoncillo's view that imagination is important for historians in interpreting history with limited facts. 2) It agrees that while guided by reality, a creative mind is needed to complete details of history. Historians cannot modify realities for their benefit but imagination must be consistent with accumulated facts. 3) History relies on historians to understand and provide insight into facts for others. Written history can only approximate the past if historians have a lively imagination to connect pieces, though facts also condition the historian's imagination.

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137 views2 pages

History's Creative Imagination

1) The document discusses Agoncillo's view that imagination is important for historians in interpreting history with limited facts. 2) It agrees that while guided by reality, a creative mind is needed to complete details of history. Historians cannot modify realities for their benefit but imagination must be consistent with accumulated facts. 3) History relies on historians to understand and provide insight into facts for others. Written history can only approximate the past if historians have a lively imagination to connect pieces, though facts also condition the historian's imagination.

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roma
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READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

Section 104

Ragos, Rhoma Drei D. September 5, 2020


Prof. Mai G. Reyes FA #1

A Report on Imagination In History


A reaction paper

Agoncillo’s Imagination In History (1972) talks about how imagination is important


when it comes to history. As Agoncillo said, “The ordeal of the historian begins not with its
scientific aspects --- the spade work and the cataloging of what may be termed facts --- but
with its artistic aspect.” This line from the second paragraph acknowledges that interpreting
history with limited facts is not as simple as believed. It is more than connecting the points

I agree with Agoncillo on how, while it is being guided by reality, a creative mind is
important to complete details of history. Even though it is in the historian’s hands, it does not
mean the realities will be modified for their potential benefit. As Agoncillo stated, "Imagination
is conditioned by facts.” The premise of the historian’s creative mind ought to be steady with
the facts they have accumulated. Historians cannot change it as a whole.

History is dependent on historians. History relies upon the historian and not so much of
the realities. The facts are there and the historian has to know and understand how they can
provide insight into it for others. To cite Agoncillo, "Written history can approximate the past
only if the historian is endowed with a lively imagination." Along these lines, the history that
we know is not a total one. As it were, these are interconnecting pieces that were associated by
historians with a wide and precise-feeling of the creative mind and they connect these pieces
with it. Facts are conditioned by the historian’s imagination, and vice-versa.

In the wake of learning that history may not be as precise as I knew it, I was stunned
but gained another perspective on history. Previously, I thought Jose Rizal's life was shown to
us precisely all things considered, and how my teachers would enlighten us about it from
before. Historians may very well-filled a few sections for it to be foretold well. It is very
frustrating, in my part, that I did not think about this. With the information I have learned, it is
now clear to me that despite the archives historians have, they cannot completely translate the
past; as much as they need to stay with the realities, innovative reasoning and a creative mind
are needed to connect the dots.

In closing, I would educate that history is not as accurate and as true as we believe to
be.

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