Module in Readings in Philippine History (GEC 105)

History Department, MSU-GSC

CHAPTER 1 – WEEK 1
MEANINGS AND CONCEPTS OF HISTORY
Lessons 1.1. to 1.3
Timeframe: 3 hours

Objectives: At the end of this chapter, the students will be able to:
1. Define History as a discipline.
2. Identify the different Concepts of History
3. Discuss the relevance of studying History.
4. Explain what Pantayong Pananaw (From Us - To Us Perspective) is.

 Overview
History is the study of life in society in the past, in all its aspects, and contemporary developments and
future hopes. It is the story of the man in time, an inquiry into the past based on evidence. History investigates what
happened in the past, how it happened, and analyzes the inevitable changes in human actions and how these changes
affect or influence society's present life patterns.

History also aims to help students understand the currently existing political, economic, and socio-cultural
conditions. Without knowledge and concern of the past, you cannot trace the relevance of doing and observing
cultures, traditions, customs, and others. Thus, History helps us to understand the present-day problems objectively.

This unit introduces the students to how history
relevance in the 21st century. Further, the students will be
analyzing historical evidence. Lastly, the students will be
Perspective). This is a Filipino perspective developed by
historical narrative.
developed as a discipline, its meaning, nature, and
guided with the essential Concepts of History when
exposed to Pantayong Pananaw (From Us - To Us
Dr. Zeus Salazar when studying and writing one’s

Activity: Anticipation Guide

Read each statement below. These statements were selected quotes about History, as uttered by famous
Filipino historians, world leaders, and other figures.

In the table shown, respond whether you agree (A) or disagree (D) with each statement in the left column.

Before Reading Statement

Agree or Disagree

1. History is written by the victors (Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of UK, 1941-1945).

2. We are not makers of History. We are made by History (Martin Luther King, Jr., an
African American minister, and activist, 1955-1968).

3. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it (George Santayana,
Spanish essayist, poet, and novelist).

4. History is a living, lively account of what we were and are; its recent and past
events. If all of that makes us understand humanity, so does History makes us
understand ourselves and our country definitely better, in the context of our culture

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Module in Readings in Philippine History (GEC 105)
History Department, MSU-GSC

and our society (Ambeth Ocampo, Filipino historian).

5. Tsismis noon, kasaysayan ngayon (Lourd de Veyra, Filipino musician, journalist, TV host,
broadcast personality).

Analysis
Based on the exercise above, reflect on the following questions:

1. In your understanding, how would you define History?

2. What is the nature of History?
3. What are the essential “concepts” when studying History?
4. Is History a relevant academic discipline? Why?
5. How should we write our nation’s history?

 To further understand the discipline of History, the following will be the assigned readings that the student
must be able to analyze, namely:

a. Carr, Edward. 1962. “Chapter 1. The Historian and His Facts” in What is History? 6-30. New York: Knopf.
b. “The Historian’s Toolkit.” nd. Oxford Big Ideas. Accessed on August 3, 2018. https://www/oup.com.au
c. Constantino, Renato. 1975. “Towards a People’s History” in A Past Revisited, 3-11. Quezon City: Tala
Publishing Services.
d. Salazar, Zeus. 2012. “Pantayong Pananaw: Bilang Diskursong Kabihasnan”. Accessed on August 4, 2018.
www.bagongkasaysayan.org

 Points to Remember: In analyzing the assigned reading materials, analyze the author’s background/biography and his
main arguments, identify biases, and examine the evidence or materials used to present his work.

Abstraction
Lesson 1.1. What is History?
A sense of the past is a light that illuminates the present and directs attention toward future possibilities.
Without adequate knowledge of History, today’s events are disconnected occurrences.

The origin of the word History is associated with the Greek word ‘Historia,’ which means “inquiry,
knowledge acquired by investigation.” In Ancient Greek Civilization, some early historians recorded important
events of their time. Famous among them were Herodotus and Thucydides.

Herodotus (c. 484-425/413 BCE) was a Greek writer and geographer credited with being the first historian.
His first grand narrative, Histories, is considered the founding work of history in Western literature, which marked
him as the “Father of History.” It records ancient traditions, politics, geography, and clashes of various cultures
known in Western Asia, Northern Africa, and Greece. It stands as one of the first accounts of the Persian Empire's
rise, events, and causes from the Greco-Persian Wars. In contrast with Herodotus' “Histories” that jump around
chronologically, Thucydides’ “History of the Peloponnesian War” set a standard scope, concision, and accuracy that
defines the text of the historical genre. His work is about a historical account of the Peloponnesian War, a conflict
between the Peloponnesian League (led by Sparta) and the Delian League (led by Athens).

During the Enlightenment Period in the 18 th century, History was being studied as a unique form of
thought. History is considered a scientific research or inquiry, trying to discover what man does not know. The

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Module in Readings in Philippine History (GEC 105)
History Department, MSU-GSC

historians showcased this inquiry through the correct interpretation of evidence. In investigating the evidence, which
serves as the backbone of historical fact, historians use it to answer its questions.

The term history is not only complex but quite encompassing to elicit an agreed definition. In its broadest
definition, History is the study of past events. It generally presents the known past. Others look at History as a
dynamic discipline, making it difficult for historians to agree upon one definition. To some, History is “man-his-
story”; hence, it is the story of man’s efforts to satisfy his/her craving for an orderly social life and hope for beauty
and knowledge.

History is a means to understand the past and the present. The different interpretations of the past allow us
the see the present differently and, therefore, imagine – and work towards – different futures. History is often said to
be the “Queen” or “Mother” of all social sciences since it is the basis of all subjects of study, which fall under the
Humanities and Social Sciences category. It is also the basis of the study of philosophy, economics, politics, and
even art and religion (Talekau, Nayakm Harichandan n.d., 2)

 Edward Carr’s “Historian and His Facts” in What is History (1962)

(Refer to Compilation of Readings for his biography and full text of the article.)

Through analyzing a chapter of the seminal book What is History (1962) by Edward Carr, “The Historian
and His Facts,” we will understand more about History. Edward Hallett Carr (1892-1982) was both an international
historian and a philosopher of history. What is History discussed a variety of issues ranging from the importance of
facts, relation of History to morality, clarification on the quite antithesis between individual and society to moral or
value judgments in History.

In this article, he emphasized the role of historians to give meaning to facts and events. The theme of the
article focuses on the symbiotic relationship between the historian and his facts. Thence, one ceases to be
meaningful without the other.

He also established the viewpoint that historians belong to a particular period, and society will undoubtedly
influence the problems in the past they choose to comment upon and on the selection they seek. As he related:

“When we attempt to answer the question ‘What is history?’, our answer, consciously or
unconsciously, reflects our own position in time and forms part of our answer to the broader
question what view we take of the society in which we live” (Carr 1962, 8).

Also, he tried to attack the traditional historical methods and practices by presenting historiographical
principles rejecting these methods and practices (paradigm shift). The 19th historians (traditional) gave much focus
to facts. As he mentioned: “…the task of the historian was simply to show how it really was (wie es eigentlich
gewesen) this not very profound aphorism had an astonishing success (Carr 1962, 9). In the 1830s, there were even
legitimate protests against moralizing history and limited the historian's tasks to show how it was. The Positivists
claimed History to be a science and again stressed the importance of facts. They had a view first of ascertaining facts
and then concluding them. Since there is also this difficulty, not all past facts are not being ‘historical facts,’ and
the historians are not treating them as such.

So, what is a historical fact? As what Carr (1962) defined, it refers to:

1. The backbone of History, which refers to as a commonsense view, and sometimes rely on the
interpretation from the auxiliary sciences of History; and
2. A historian's priori decision, i.e., the historian, necessarily becomes selective of his gathered facts
(10-11).

He depicted that the facts are not at all like fish on the fishmonger’s slab. They are all 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,

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Module in Readings in Philippine History (GEC 105)
History Department, MSU-GSC

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.

He advised that there should be a need to observe how to critique if the facts are historical facts. He pointed
out three points to ponder:

1. … study the historian before you begin to study the facts

2. … have an imaginative mind, to understand the minds of the people with whom he is dealing
3. … possible to study History through the limelight of the present (22-25).

Put merely, Carr recommended that a particular historian, as a researcher, must seek to bring into the
picture all known or knowable facts relevant, in one sense or another, to the theme in which he is engaged and to the
interpretation proposed.

Lastly, at the end section of the chapter, Carr proposed a new definition of History: “History is a
continuous process between the historian and his facts, an unending dialogue between the present and the past
(30).”

Nature of History
(Source: Talekau, Nayakm Harichandan n.d., 3-4)

1. A study of the present in light of the past. The present has evolved out of the past. Modern History enables
us to understand how society has come to its present form to intelligently interpret the sequence of events. The
causal relationships between the selected happenings have been unearthed, which help reveal the nature of
happenings and the framing of general laws.
2. History is the study of man. History deals with man’s struggle through the ages. History is not static. We
understand the sweep of events by selecting “innumerable biographies” and presenting their lives in the appropriate
social context and the human context's ideas. It traces the fascinating story of how man has developed through the
ages, studied to use and control his environment, and how the present institutions have grown out of the past.
3. History is concerned with man in time. It deals with a series of events, and each event occurs at a given
point in time. Human history is the process of human development in time. It is time that affords a perspective to
events and lends a charm that brightens up the past.
4. History is concerned with man in space. The interaction of man in the environment and vice versa is a
dynamic one. History describes nations and human activities in the context of their physical and geographical
environment. Out of this arises the different political, social, economic, and cultural spheres of man’s activities and
achievements.
5. Objective record of happenings. Every precaution is taken to base the data on sources and make them free
from subjective interpretation. It helps in a clear understanding of the past and enables us to make well-informed
decisions.
6. Multisided. All aspects of a social group's life are closely interrelated, and historical happenings cover all
these aspects of life, not limited only to the political aspect that had so long dominated History.
7. History is a dialogue between the events of the past and progressively emerging future ends. The
historian’s interpretation of the past, his selection of the significant and the relevant events, evolves with the
progressive emergence of new goals. The general laws regulating historical happenings may not be considered
enough; attempts must be made to predict future events based on the laws.
8. Not only narration but also analysis. The selected happenings are not merely narrated; the causal
relationships between them are properly unearthed. The tracing of these relationships leads to the development of
general laws that are also compared and contrasted with similar happenings in other social groups to improve these
laws' reliability and validity.
9. Continuity and coherence are the necessary requisites of History. History carries the burden of human
progress as it is passed down from generation to generation, from society to society, justifying the essence of
continuity.

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Module in Readings in Philippine History (GEC 105)
History Department, MSU-GSC

10. Relevant. In the study of History, only those events are included, which are relevant to understanding the
present life.
11. Comprehensiveness. According to the modern concept, History is not confined to one period or country,
or nation. It also deals with all aspects of human life-political, social, economic, religious, literary, aesthetic, and
physical, giving a clear sense of world unity

Lesson 1.2. Concepts of History

Historian
A historian is an expert who studies and writes about the past. With the help of allied disciplines like
archaeology, the historian can describe the pre-historical events in the past, i.e., before the invention of the system
of writing.

Moreover, a historian follows continuous, methodical narrative research to understand the past. This
methodical analysis of the sources (historical criticism) and synthesis of the materials being interpreted is known in
the field as a historical method. The historian asks questions, forms, opinions, and theories, locates and analyzes
sources, and uses evidence to develop an informed explanation of the past.

Historical criticism is a diagnostic device or cross-examination to test the reliability and credibility of a
piece of evidence. It has two levels: external and internal. External (lower) criticism checks the reliability or
veracity (correctness) of the source or evidence by evaluating its author's background, the title of the evidence, the
date and place of publication, and so on. On the higher level, Internal criticism judges credibility or validity
(trustworthiness) by attributing a moral value to the piece of evidence or source.

After this step, the historian proceeds to the shifting, grouping, arrangement, generalization, and
organization of the facts gathered to form a connected and related knowledge. As a standard form, these facts are
presented in a logical, narrative form. This step is called the Synthesis (Reporting).

Moreover, historians are interested in all aspects of the past and seek to piece together accurate pictures of
what life was like. They also look for patterns – what has remained the same, what has changed and why.

 Concepts of Historical Understanding (Refer to Compilation of Readings for full text.)

As historians investigate past events, it is a must to learn and apply historical concepts and skills. These
concepts are a historian’s ‘tool of the trade.’ As you learn to use each concept, you will begin to think like a
historian.

In the diagram below, it summarizes the essential points within concepts of History:

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Module in Readings in Philippine History (GEC 105)
History Department, MSU-GSC

Figure 1. Concepts of History.

Lesson 1.3. History from Filipino People Point of View

 Constantino, Renato. 1975. “Towards a People’s History” in A Past Revisited, 3-11. Quezon City: Tala Publishing
a. Services.
Salazar, Zeus. 2012. “Pantayong Pananaw: Bilang Diskursong Kabihasnan”. Accessed on August 4, 2018.
www.bagongkasaysayan.org

History is one of the most effective weapons of a once-colonized nation in the struggle to achieve real
independence. Conversely, History can also be used to carry on methods of subservience and dependence on former
colonizers. In the Philippines, Filipinos began to use History as an essential representation of an independent
country. However, this has not been easy to begin writing the nation’s history. The History of the Philippines as a
nation is the story of its rise, development, and outcome. It explains the present and guides the way to the future.
History is not meant to be mechanically memorized and later be forgotten. Nevertheless, it should be used to derive
valuable insights and perspectives on what we are and what we want to be.

In the Philippines, we can divide that there were three stages of how its history has been written:

I. Our image of ourselves and our past was shaped mainly by the colonizers' writings, disregarding the
sufferings of their colonies.

II. Filipino historians consciously set themselves the task of writing from the Filipino point of view.
Their work emphasized the role Filipinos played in their History, described the abuses perpetrated by the Spaniards,
and presented Filipino responses to all colonizers with respect and admiration. However, there were scant analyses
of the American colonization. Overall, in many instances, this is the point of view of the Filipino elite.

(Ladino Secular Priests Ilustrado Pensionado Fulbright/Mombusho Scholar Intellectuals)

(Salazar 2012, 4-15).

III. The writing of the nation’s history from the point of view of the Filipino people. It means it should be
judged in terms of whether they advanced the Filipino masses' interests (democratic participation and a better life for
all). A people’s History will help significantly eradicate our colonial mentality, the tendency to accept western

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Module in Readings in Philippine History (GEC 105)
History Department, MSU-GSC

ideas and products as inherently superior, and failure to pinpoint national interest apart from those of former
colonizers. With the writing of History following Filipinos point of view, it will make the citizens more
nationalistic, more wary of their former colonizers, more zealous in safeguarding the country’s resources for the
people, and more determined to attain the sovereignty of their political and economic life.

A more significant aspect of History is that it is not just a story. It carries a valuable meaning. Perhaps the
best way to illustrate this is by discussing the Filipino word for History, which is kasaysayan. Kasaysayan has a
deeper meaning; its root word saysay means “sense” or “meaning.” It also means importance or purpose. The things
that have no importance or meaning are valueless or walang saysay. With the addition of the suffix yan, saysayan
now means the act of conveying words of importance or sense. This is told through a narrative or story
(kasaysayan). With the addition of the prefix ka, saysayan now jas a new meaning. “Ka” has a significant
connotation. It implies a connection of interaction or relationship, being a part of something, or doing something
together. Hence, in kasaysayan, people share important narratives, sharing similar or opposite views (De Viana
2011, xi).

To wit, Zeus Salazar, UP Professor, introduced Pantayong Pananaw to appreciate further the value of writing
our nation’s history following the Filipino perspective. He defined that:

“Pantayong Pananaw ay nasa panloob na pagkakaugnay-ugnay ng mga katangian, halagahin,

kaalaman, karunungan, hangarin, kaugalian, pag-aasal, at karanasan ng isang kabuuang
pangkalinangan – kabuuang nababalot sa, at ipinapahayag sa pamamagaitan ng isang wika, ibig
sabihinm sa loob ng isang nagsasariling talastasan/diskursong pangkalinangan o
pangkabihasnan (2012, 2).

The most essential characteristic of Pantayong Pananaw is that the historical narrative (story) should be
written in Filipino or local language: “ang pinakamahalagang katangian nito ang pagkasulat sa wikang Filipino na
madaling maunawaan ng taumbayan. Ang paksa ay umiikot sa relasyon ng mga bumuo ng bayan – and mga
Muslim, Indio at iba pang mga nasa kabundukan.

Table 1 below summarizes the important key points on how to distinguish the different perspectives in
writing the history of the Filipinos:

Pangkaming Pananaw Pansilang Pananaw Pangkayong Pananaw Pantayong Pananaw

(From Us – For You) (From Us – For Us)
 Written by the Filipinos in  Written by foreigners in  Written by foreigners in  Written by Filipinos in
English English English Filipino/katutubong salita

POV of Filipino writers

 POV of Filipino writers  POV of the foreigners  POV of foreigners

 Meant to be read by Filipinos

 It meant to be read by
foreigners to understand our
History in our POV
 Used to correct or argue
against false accusations written
by foreigners
 Meant to be read by
foreigners to understand our
History (part/in relation) to their
History
 What is produced when texts
by foreigners about our History
 Meant to be read by Filipinos
 Revolves around the use of
Filipino concepts in order to
explain other Filipino concepts

 Example writers: ilustrados

(the elite Filipino youth)
Table 1. Tripartite Perspectives

Similarly, Renato Constantino believed that there was indeed a need to write the Philippines' History as an
independent nation. According to him: “Philippine History is a people’s history. It is a recorded struggle of people
for ever-increasing freedom and newer and realization of the human person (1975)”.

In the article “Towards a People’s History,” Constantino views History as a means of liberation for the
Filipino people. He proposes to reexamine the historical record and seek the unifying thread, which gives meaning

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Module in Readings in Philippine History (GEC 105)
History Department, MSU-GSC

to the Filipino people's national evolution. This thread refers to the “Filipino resistance to the colonial oppression”
(1975, 9) and the struggles of the Filipino people of the masses. In his seminal works, he emphasized the Filipino
masses’ role in making History, i.e., it should be written from their perspective, not the colonizer’s nor the
vacillating (indecisive) elites.

Important Keywords:
 History refers to the discipline of dealing with past events.
 Historical method is the technique and process by which historians use to study historical evidence. It
consists of historical criticisms (lower and higher level) and synthesis of the narrative.
 Concepts of History plays a fundamental role in analyzing facts from historical evidence. In the discipline
of history, there are seven concepts, namely: change and continuity, cause and effect, sources,
significance, perspectives, empathy, and contestability.
 Pantayong Pananaw (The “From Us-To Us” Perspective) refers to the concept developed by Dr. Zeus
Salazar. He encouraged to employ this framework when to write a historical narrative of the nation or a
community, representing the ‘indigenized’ and localized perspective of the local people, using the Filipino
language or native language.

 Application/Assessment:
1. Likert Scale. Review your answers in the earlier activity. Write whether you still agree or not anymore in
the third column (After Reading) and justify your response.

Before Reading Statement After Reading Justification

Agree or Disagree Agree or Disagree

1. History is written by the victors (Winston

Churchill, Prime Minister of UK, 1941-1945).

2. We are not makers of History. We are made by

History (Martin Luther King, Jr., African American
minister, and activist, 1955-1968)

3. Those who cannot remember the past are

condemned to repeat it (George Santayana,
Spanish essayist, poet, and novelist)

4. History is a living and lively account of what we

were and are; its recent and past events. If all of
that makes us understand humanity, so does
History make us understand ourselves, and our
country definitely better, in the context of our
culture and our society (Ambeth Ocampo, Filipino
historian)

5. Tsismis noon, kasaysayan ngayon (Lourd de

Veyra, Filipino musician, journalist, TV host,
broadcast personality)

2. Answer Activity 1 in the Compilation of Readings.

Assignment

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Module in Readings in Philippine History (GEC 105)
History Department, MSU-GSC

Read in advance the article “Kalantiaw: The Code That Never Was” by Scott, William. Refer to your
Compilation of Readings.

References

“The Historian’s Toolkit.” nd. Oxford Big Ideas. Accessed on August 3, 2018. https://www/oup.com.au

Carr, Edward. 1962. “Chapter 1. The Historian and His Facts” in What is History? 6-30. New York: Knopf.

Constantino, Renato. 1975. “Towards a People’s History” in A Past Revisited, 3-11. Quezon City: Tala Publishing
Services.

Salazar, Zeus. 2012. “Pantayong Pananaw: Bilang Diskursong Kabihasnan”. Accessed on August 4, 2018.
www.bagongkasaysayan.org

Talekau, P. Nayak, J., and Harichandan, S. n.d. “Nature of History.” History. Accessed on August 8, 2020.
https://ddceutkal.ac.in