GEC 105 EXAM REVIEWER 2) records of such past human events, history as
records;
Hafidah M. Buale BA SOCIOLOGY
MEANING & RELEVANCE OF HISTORY
TWO MEANINGS OF HISTORY
1. “History is everything that happened in
the past.”
2. “History is an account of the past.”
In short, history is both the past and the
study of the past.
WHAT IS HISTORY?
German word “geschichte” means that
‘which has happen’ ‘all history that teaches’
and the ‘lessons of history’
- Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History
HISTORY
Derived from the Greek noun which
means learning.
 Aristotle:
“systematic account for a set of natural
phenomena, whether or not chronological
ordering was a factor in the account”
 Scientia (Latin) – used to designate non-
chronological systematic accounts of
natural phenomena and history was
reserved usually for accounts of
phenomena (especially human affairs) in
chronological order.
 Common definition “the past of
mankind”
Science which first investigates and then
records in their causal relations and
developments such as past human events as
are:
1. Definite in time and place
2. Social in nature
3. Socially significant
Three highly related but sharply differentiated
concepts:
(1) past as activity, history as activity;
3) process or technique of making or writing such
as records, history as historiography
HISTORIOGRAPHY
The historian endeavors to reconstruct as
much of the past of mankind as he can.
Historian must be sure that his records really
come from the past and are in fact what they
seem to be and that his imagination is
directed towards re-creation and not
creation.
These limits distinguish history from fiction,
poetry, drama and fantasy.
“The imaginative reconstruction of the past from
the data derived by that process (the writing of
history).”
Study of historian’s works over time in order to
understand the nature, philosophy and method
of history by analyzing:
 Historian’s aims and points of view.
 Their approaches to and methods of
history.
 Historical context in which they wrote
and the influences upon them.
 Value of their historical works.
Subjective – Inferior to objective knowledge,
illusory, based upon personal considerations,
and hence either untrue or biased.
Objective – The intention of acquiring
detached and truthful knowledge independent
of one’s personal reactions- a thing must be
first an object; it must have an independent
existence outside of the human mind.
TRADITIONAL APPROACH TO HISTORY
1. Narration of past events, arranged
chronologically.
2. Who, what when, where = basic facts.
3. Leads to memorization; lack of
appreciation.
4. Usually political; centered in nation’s
capital; big people and big events; wars
5. what is important: why
6. History vs. Chronicle
IS HISTORY A SCIENCE OR ONE OF THE
HUMANITIES?
“Difference in approaches”
social science - scientific method
problematizing – evidence
sources - primary, secondary, tertiary
analysis of sources
HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE LIMITED BY
INCOMPLETENESS OF THE RECORDS”
The past of mankind for the most part is
beyond recall- the incompleteness of records American Historical Association’s 5 Cs of historical
thinking:
“Most of human affairs happen without leaving
vestiges or records of any kind behind them. The 1. Change over time - and continuity
past, having happened, has perished forever with 2. Context - set primary sources in context
only occasional traces.” 3. Causality - why change occurs
4. Contingency – interconnections; what
HISTORY AS RECONSTRUCTION 5. might have happened
The historical is many times removed from 6. Complexity - not just one perspective;
the events under investigation. interrelationships of
events/people/conditions.
“Historian rely on surviving record.”
“No document, no history” - Gregorio Zaide,
-Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History Nicolas Zafra et al
“History as story”- Carlos Quirino, Nick Joaquin,
Ambeth Ocampo
THE HUMAN PAST
“Historical interpretation”- Teodoro Agoncillo
Only part of what was observed in the past
remembered by those who observed it; “History as discourse” - Rey Ileto; Vincent Rafael
Only a part of what recorded has survived;
CONCEPTS OF HISTORY
Only part of what has survived to the
historian’s attention; 1. Concept of Change
Only a part of what has come to their 2. Concept of Continuity
attention is credible; 3. Concept of Multiple Causation
Only of a part of what is credible has been 4. Concept of Significance
grasped; 5. Concept of Sources
And only a part of what has been 6. Concept of Evidence
grasped can be expounded or narrated by the 7. Concept of Framework
historian 8. Concept of Context
THINGS TO REMEMBER!!!
 There is no single understanding of truth in
history.
 Different historians reach different
conclusions about the same period, event
or issue.
  History is composed of competing and
conflicting arguments and viewpoints and is
always changing.
ABUSES OF HISTORY
 Subordination to theory
 Subordination to ideology
 Subservience to politics
 Subjugation to private interest
 Danger of prejudice
 Bad history (falls short of any of the canonc
of historical study)
BENEFITS OF HISTORY
 Understanding of the present
 Reaffirmation and validation of one’s self.
Identity (individual and shared).
 Guidance
 Enjoyment
 Intellectual development
HISTORICITY
 Sense of being situated in history
 Historical authenticity and appropriateness
 Awareness of time and of history
 Realization of differences between past and
present
HISTORICAL REVISIONISM
MODIFICATION OF THE PAST TO:
 Suit the present needs
 Legitimize prevailing interest
OFTEN JUSTIFIED AS:
 Setting the records straight
 Rectifying the past
HISTORICAL REVISIONISM
HOW?
 By making the past look better (cover up,
keep silent about controversies)
 By making the present look better by
changing the conditions that led to it.
1. History provides us a sense of our own
identity.
2. History helps us better understand the
present.
3. History—good history—is a corrective
for misleading analogies and “lessons” of
the past.
4. History enables us to understand the
tendencies of humankind, social
institutions, and all aspects of the
human condition.
5. History can help one develop tolerance
and open-mindedness.
6. History provides the basic background
for many other disciplines.
7. History can be entertainment.
8. The careful study of history teaches one
many critical skills.
PRIMARY & SECONDARY SOURCES
What is HISTORICAL METHOD?
 “Historians have to verify sources, to DATE
them, LOCATE their place of origin and
identify their intended FUNCTIONS.”
In short, the HISTORICAL METHOD is…
 The process of critically examining and
analyzing the records and survivals of the
past.
HISTORICAL SOURCES
 Sources- an OBJECT from the past or
TESTIMONY concerning the past on which
historians depending 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
SOURCES one who/that which was present at the
events of which he or it tells (simply called an
• Historians has to use many materials that
are not in books. Where these are eyewitness)
archaeological, epigraphical, or numismastical
Secondary source- is the testimony of
materials, he has to depend largely on
anyone who is not an eyewitness-that is, of
museums.
one who was not present at the events of
• Where they are official records, he may have which he tells.
to search for them in archives, courthouses, A primary source must thus have been
governmental libraries, etc. produced by a contemporary of the events it
narrates. It does not, however, need to be
• Where they are private papers not available
original in the legal sense of the word original
in official collections, he may have to hunt
–that is, the very document (usually the first
among the papers of business houses, rooms
written draft) whose contents are the subject
of old houses, the prized possessions of
of discussion.
autography collectors, the records of parish
churches, etc. Original:
WHAT ARE PRIMARY SOURCES? 1. It contains fresh and creative ideas
2. It is not translated from the language in
 A primary source is a document or physical
which it was first written
object which was written or created during
3. It is in its earliest, unpolished stage
the time under study.
4. Its text is the approved text, unmodified and
 These sources were present during an
untampered
experience or time period and offer an
5. It is earliest available source of the
inside view of a particular event.
information it provides
FOUR MAIN CATEGORIES OF PRIMARY
Original source:
SOURCES
It is best used by the historians in only two
1. Written sources
senses:
2. Images
3. Artifacts 1. To describe a source, unpolished, uncopied,
4. Oral testimony untranslated, as it issued from the hands of
the authors (e.g. original draft of the Magna
WHAT are SECONDARY SOURCES?
Carta)
 A secondary source interprets and analyzes
2. A source that gives the earliest available
primary sources. These sources are one or
information (origin) regarding the question
more steps removed from the event.
under investigation because the earlier
 Secondary sources may have pictures,
sources have been lost.
quotes or graphics of primary sources in
them. “primary sources need not be original in either of
these two ways. They need be “original” only in
What are the distinctions between PRIMARY
the sense of underived or first hand as to their
SOURCES and other ORIGINAL SOURCES?
testimony.”
Written and oral sources are divided into two
PRIMARY SOURCES:
kinds: primary and secondary
Primary source- it the testimony of an 1. ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS
eyewitness, or of a witness by any other of 2. Diaries
the senses, or of a mechanical device – the 3. speeches
4. manuscripts
 5. letters
6. Interviews
7. Poetry, music, art
8. Clothing, pottery
SECONDARY SOURCES
1. Textbooks
2. magazine articles
3. Histories
4. Commentaries
5. encyclopedias
6. Internet
ARTIFACTS AS SOURCE OF HISTORY
 Artifacts – objects, other than words, that
the historian can study. But they are never
the happenings or the events themselves,
but rather results of events. Such as
potsherd, coin, ruin, manuscript, book,
portrait, stamp, piece of wreckage, strand of
hair, or other archaeological or
anthropological remains.
 Artifacts or documents, they are raw
materials out of which history may be
written.
 Historical context can be given to them only
if they can be placed in a human setting.
 Setback: infinity of other suppositions is
possible. Without further evidence the
human context of these artifacts can never
be recaptured with any degree of certainty.
DOCUMENT
 latin, docere (meaning to teach)
In history, used in several senses:
1. Used to mean written source of historical
information as contrasted with oral
testimony or with artifacts, pictorial
survivals, and archaeological remains.
2. Reserved for only official and state papers
such as treaties, laws, grants, deeds, etc.
3. Contained in the word “documentation”,
which, as used by the historian among
others, signifies any process of proof based
upon any kind source whether written, oral,
pictorial and archaeological.
4. Document becomes synonymous with
source, whether written or not, official or
not, primary or not.
ARCHEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES IN
PHILIPPINE HISTORY
 LAGUNA COPPER PLATE – Discovered in
1986
 MANUNGGUL JAR – Site Investigation
bet.1962-65 in Lipuun Point, Palawan
 OTON DEATH MASK – 1960s San Antonio,
Oton, Iloilo, 14th-15th century AD
WRITTEN SOURCES
EXTERNAL CRITICISM
 Used to determine the authenticity or
genuineness of a historical document.
 Factors that may have influenced the
production of a document: authorship, time,
place, purpose and circumstances or
composition and what part of the document
is true to the original.
 Useful in internal criticism.
PART 2
Who was the author?
What are his qualifications as a reporter?
What were his special qualifications and
disqualifications as the reporter of the
matters here treated?
How soon, after the event, was the
documentary written?
How the document written from memory,
after consultation with others, after checking
the facts or combining earlier trial drafts?
How is the document related to other
documents?
Original source? Wholly or part?
If part, what are the borrowed? How credible
are the borrowed?
How accurately is the borrowing done?
How is the material changed? How it is used?
To detect the following:
1. Forgeries and hoaxes
2. Authorship, time, and filiation of documents
3. Incorrect borrowings
4. Inventions and distortions
INTERNAL CRITICISM  To what extent is the statement a
conventional form where set of formulas
 The process of determining the true
rather than true sentiments are expressed?
meaning and value of statements contained
 Is there evidence of vanity or boasting?
in a document.
 Does the author want to please some
 It is positive, if efforts are made to discover
particular individual, group or even the
the true meaning of the contents of a
general the public?
document,
 Are exaggerations or embellishments in the
 It is negative, if efforts are exerted in finding
form of literary artifices and rhetorical
reasons for disbelieving the contents of the
flourishes employed to produce the desired
document.
effects?
What did the author mean by this particular
statement? What is its real meaning as PAST
distinguished from its literal meaning?
Purpose: What was the object used for? What
Was the statement made in good faith?
does the text say? What does the picture show?
Had the author interest in deceiving the
reader? Author: Who created this?
Was the author under pressure?
Slant: Is there bias? What is the point of view or
Was he influenced by sympathy or
frame of reference of the source?
antipathy?
Did vanity influence him? Time Period: When was it created? What is the
Was he influenced by public opinion? historical context or what was happening at the
Is there evidence of literary or dramatic time it was created?
motives to distort the truth?
Was the statement accurate? Or more
particularly:
Was the author a poor observer because of
mental defect or abnormality?
Was the author situation badly in time and
place to observe?
Was the author negligent or indifferent?
Was the fact of such nature could not be
directly observed?
Was the author a mere witness or a trained
observer?
When it appears that the author was not the
original observer, it is necessary to determine
the truth and accuracy of the source of his
information
TEST OF TRUTHFULNESS AND HONESTY
 What is the personal or vested interest of
the author?
 To what race, nation, party, region, sect,
social level, economic group, or profession
does the observer belong, which may
introduce bias or prejudice?