History

Discovering

Presented by: Group 1

If you don't know history,
Then you don't know
anything.
Michael Crichton
 What we'll discuss
MODULE 1 History, Meaning and Relevance
Learning Objectives
1. To define history and understand its relevance.
2. To discuss the limitation of historical knowledge.
3. To discuss and understand history as the subjective
process of re-creation,
historical method and historiography.
 A. HISTORY
History derived from the Greek word, historia , which means
learning by inquiry.The Greek philosopher, Aristotle, looked upon
history as the systematic accounting of a set of natural
phenomena, that is, taking into consideration the chronological
arrangement of the account. This explained that knowledge is
derived through conducting a process of scientific investigation
of past events.
History is also defined by various modern writers namely:

Kris K. Hirst

John Jacob Anderson

W.C. Sellar and R.J. Yeatman

Arnold J. Toynbee
 The word History is referred usually for accounts of phenomena, especially
human affairs in chronological order. These theories constructed by historials in
investigating history. These are:

Factual History
Presents readers the plain and basic information vis-à-vis the events that
took place (what), the time and date which the events happened (when), the
place with which the events took place (where), and the people that were
involved (who).

SPECULATIVE HISTORY
It goes beyond facts because it is concerned about the reasons for which
events happened (why), and the way they happened (how). “It tries to
speculate on the cause and effect of an event”.
 HISTORIANS
• Individuals who write about history.
• They seek to understand the present by examining what went before.
• They undertake arduous historical research to come up with a meaningful and
organized that the historian needs to answer because this sets the purpose
and framework of a historical account.

HISTORIOGRAPHY
• The practice of historical writing.
• This is 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 descriptive or analytical narrative.
• The modern historical writing does not only include examination of documents
but also the use of research methods from related areas of study such as
archeology and geography.
B. The Limitation of Historical Knowledge
- Incompleteness of records has limited man’s knowledge of history.
- Most human affairs happen without leaving any evidence or records of any kind,
no artifacts...
- The whole history of the past (called history-as-actuality) can be known only
surviving records (history-as-record), and most of history-as-record is only a tiny
part the whole phenomenon. Even the archeological and anthropological
discoveries are only small parts discovered from the total past.
 C. History as the Subjective process of Re-Creation

-Historians aim is verisimilitude (the truth, authenticity, plausibility) about the

past.
-The study of history is a subjective process as documents and relics are
scattered and do not together comprise the total object that historian is studying.

-Historians deal with human testimonies as well as physical traces. Unlike in

natural science that has objectively measurable phenomena.
 D. Historical Method and Historiography
- Historical Method is the process of critically examining and analyzing the records
and survivals of the past.
- Historiography is the imaginative reconstruction of the past from the data derived
by the process (historical method).
- However, history is different from fiction, poetry, drama, and fantasy.
 E. Historical Analysis
This is an important element of historical method. In historical analysis,
historians:
select the subject to investigate
collect probable sources of information on the subject
examine the sources genuineness, in part or in whole
extract credible “particulars” from the sources (or parts of
sources)
 References
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dito ko lalagay
Thank You for
listening!