Readings

in
Philippine
History
By: Prof. Jose J. Lemana
Notre Dame University – Cotabato City
 Chapter 1: The Meaning of
History, Sources of Historical
Data & Historical Criticisms
Lesson 1: Meaning of History
-History is derived from the Greek word “historia” which means “learning by inquiry.”
-It is usually referred as accounts of phenomena, especially human affairs in
chronological order.
Factual History – presents the basic and plain information to the reader with the
emphasis only of ‘who,’ ‘what,’ ‘when’ and ‘where’ of history
Speculative History – goes beyond dates, places, persons, events because it attempts
to explain the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of events. It discusses the causes and effects of such
happenings which resulted to another face of change.
Meaning of History
Historians – individuals who write about history
Historiography – is the practice of historical writing; the traditional method in doing
historical research that focus on gathering of documents from different libraries and
archives to form a pool of evidence needed in making a descriptive or analytical
narrative
Limitation of Historical Knowledge
The whole history of the past (called history-as-actuality) can be known to a historian
only through the surviving records (history-as-record) and most of the history-as-
record is only a tiny part of the whole phenomenon.
Historians study the records or evidences that survived the time. However, their claims
may remain variable as there can be historical records that could be discovered, which
may affirm or refute those that they have already presented. This explains the
‘incompleteness’ of the ‘object’ that historians study.
History as the Subjective Process of Re-
creation
Historians strive to restore the total past of mankind. Their aim is verisimilitude (the
truth, authenticity, plausibility) about a perished past.
The study of history is a subjective process as documents and relics are scattered and
do not together comprise the total object that the historian is studying.
 Historical Method and Historiography

Historical Method – the process of critically examining and analyzing the records and survivals of the past
Historiography – the imaginative reconstruction of the past form the data derived by that process
Historical analysis is also an important element of historical method. Through this, historians: (1) select the
subject to investigate; (2) collect probable sources of information on the subject; (3) examine the sources’
genuineness, in part of in whole; and (4) extract credible ‘particulars’ form the sources.
The synthesis thus derived is historiography. Synthesis and analysis cannot be entirely separated since they
have a common ground, which is the ability to understand the past through some meaningful, evocative and
convincing historical or cross-disciplinary connections between a given historical issue and other historical
contexts, period, or themes.
Lesson 2: Sources of Historical Data
Historical data are sourced from artifacts that have been left by the past which can
either be relics or remains, or the testimonies of witnesses to the past.
Relics or remains offer researchers a clue about the past. For example, the relics or
remains of a prehistoric settlement.
Testimonies of witnesses, whether oral or written, may have been created to serve as
records or they might have been created for some other purposes. All these describe
an event, such as the record of a property exchange, speeches, and commentaries.
Sources of Historical Data
The historian deals wit the dynamic or genetic (the becoming) as well as the static (the
being) and aims at being interpretative (explaining why and how things happened and
were interrelated) as well as descriptive (telling what happened, when, and where,
and who took part).
Written Sources of History
Narrative or literature – chronicles or tracts presented in narrative form, written to
impart a message whose motives for their composition vary widely. For example, a
scientific tract is typically composed in order to inform contemporaries or succeeding
generations; a newspaper article might be intended to shape opinion; the so-called ego
document or personal narrative such as a diary or memoir might be composed in order
to persuade readers of the justice of the author’s actions; a novel or film might be
made to entertain, to deliver a moral teaching, or to further a religious cause; a
biography might be written in praise of the subject’s worth and achievements.
Written Sources of History
Diplomatic/Juridical sources – those which document/record an existing legal situation
or create a new one, and it is these kinds of sources that professional historians once
treated as the purest, the ‘best’ source. A legal document is usually sealed or
authenticated to provide evidence that a legal transaction has been completed and can
be used as evidence in a judicial proceeding in case of dispute.
Social documents are information pertaining to economic, social, political, or judicial
significance – records kept by bureaucracies. For example, government reports,
research findings, records of census etc.
Non-written Sources of History
2 types: Material evidence and Oral evidence
Material evidence/Archeological evidence – include artistic creations such as pottery,
jewelry, dwellings, graves, churches, roads etc.
Oral evidence – for example, tales and sagas of ancient peoples and the folk songs or
popular rituals from the premodern period of Western History. During the present age,
interviews is another major form of oral evidence.
Primary vs. Secondary Sources
Primary sources – are original, first-hand account of an event or period that are
usually written or made during or close to the event or period. These sources are
original and factual, not interpretative. Ex: diaries, journals, letters, newspaper and
magazine articles (factual accounts, government records, photographs, maps, recorded
or transcribed speeches, interviews
Secondary sources – are materials made by people long after the events being
described had taken place to provide valuable interpretations of historical events. It
analyzes and interprets primary sources. Ex: biographies, histories, literary criticism,
books written by a third party about a historical event
Lesson 3: Historical Criticisms
Historical criticism examines the origins of earliest text to appreciate the underlying
circumstances upon which the text came to be. 2 important goals: First, to discover the
original meaning of the text in its primitive or historical context and its literal sense or
sensus literalis historicus. Second, to establish a reconstruction of the historical situation of
the author and recipients of the text. It has two types: external criticism and internal
criticism.
There are two parts to a historical criticism. The first part is to determine the authenticity of
the material. External criticism is used in determining these facts. The second part is to weigh
the testimony to the truth. This process is called internal criticism or higher criticism since it
deals with more important matters than the external form.
Historical Criticisms
External criticism determines the authenticity of the source. The critic should
determine the origin of the material, its author, and the sources of information used. It
must be investigated based on the time and place it is written.
Internal criticism determines the historicity of the facts contained in the document.
Facts contained in the document must first be tested before any conclusion pertaining
to it can be admitted.
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PROPERTY OF PROF. JOSE J.
LEMANA, AND MAY NOT BE
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