Lesson 1: Meaning of History

THE MEANING OF HISTORY

 

 The English word history is derived from the Greek

word “istoia” meaning learning
 According to Aristotle, history is the systematic account of a set of
natural phenomena whether or not chronological ordering was a factor
in an account, and this is considered as natural history. As time passed,
the equivalent Latin word “scientia”, which is science in English later
was used more to designate non-chronological systematic accounts of
phenomena.
 Presently, the word “history” means the “past of mankind”. History is
the study of past events, particularly in human affairs.
 History in German is “Geschichte”, meaning, “that which has
happened”. This means that the word implies that history teaches and
we may learn from the lessons of history.
 With the definition of history, it brings man to a recognition that history
cannot be reconstructed, that the past of mankind, much of it, is beyond
recall. And that even the best of our memories cannot re-create our
past.
 The reconstruction of the total past of mankind is the total goal of
historians which, however, is unattainable. Historians will never really
know everything that happened in the past.
 The problem that every historian confronts is that the evidence they
rely on is likely to be fragmented, incomplete and even contradictory.
The result is, each historian’s conclusions are influenced by the
evidence they have selected from what is available and from how they
interpreted it.
 And from whatever a historian only has will be the only thing that he
can use to connect him to the past.