Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Philippine
History
JOMARI C.
Course Instructor, TAU-CED
CABUSAO
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
– At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to :
1. Make a distinction between primary and secondary sources.
2. Differentiate external criticism from internal criticism.
3. Discuss the repositories of primary sources.
4. Explain the different kinds of primary sources.
I. Introduction to
History
A. Etymology and Definition
– History (from the Greek word Historie or
Historia which means “learning, inquiry and or
investigation”) is a branch of the Social Sciences
that deals with the systematic study of significant
past, a branch of knowledge that records and
explains past events and which concerns people
and human nature.
– Being a branch of the social sciences, History centers on the study of people and the
society.
– Which is why, the people are considered as the focal point in the study of history.
– The definition emphasizes that it is a “systematic” study.
– This means that history as a discipline follows a methodology in order to establish and
be able to validate facts and evidences.
– The definition mentions of “significant” past as the subject matter of history.
– By “significant past” it entails that only past events which has affected the political,
cultural, social and economic aspects of the society or of the lives of the people, are
considered part of history.
– It does not follow that everything that happened in the past is considered part of
Philippine History i.e On June 14, 2001.
B. Historiography
– Historiography on the other hand refers to the study of
history itself. Historiography analyzes who is the
history writer, the motives of the writer, the sources
of the writer, theories applied and other historical
methods.
– It also analyzes the context when the history was
written.
C. Elements of History
1. The Historian. This refers to the person writing the
history.
2. Place. The location where the history was written
3. Period. Refers to the context of the time when the history
was written.
4. Sources. Refers to the basis of claims or analysis of the
historian such as documents, written or oral accounts.
D. Nature of History as
an academic discipline
A. History has no subject matter of its
own.
– Of course, the subject matter of history covers all the
persons and all events that have happened in the past.
– It is actually very broad since it does cover
everything that has happened in the society including
all aspects from political, economic social, culture
etc.
B. History synthesizes knowledge
from other fields.
– Since it covers all phenomena, History as a branch
of the Social Sciences analyzes the relations of
different events, their cause and effects using also
the knowledge used in other fields of the Social
Sciences such as Anthropology, Sociology
Economics etc.
C. History illuminate’s pieces of the
past.
– History provides for explanations of things
that happened in the past.
– By looking at relationships of different events
and phenomena, it provides explanations for
seemingly unexplainable gaps.
D. History is constantly changing.
1. Primary Sources
2. Secondary
Sources
Take Note:
– Primary and secondary sources form the cornerstones
of historical research.
– A modern-day work of history is essentially a description
and interpretation of primary sources, along with
commentary of secondary sources, both using them in
reference to the subject matter at hand, and agreeing and
disagreeing with them.
A. Primary Sources
– Visual materials such as maps, photographs, prints, graphic arts, and original
art forms can provide insights into how people viewed and/or were viewed
the world in which they existed.
– Films, videos, TV programs, and digital recordings can be primary sources.
– Documentaries, feature films, and TV news broadcasts can provide insights
into the fantasies, biases, political attitudes, and material culture of the times
in which they were created.
– Radio broadcast recordings, oral histories, and the recorded music of a
particular era can also serve as primary source material.
III. Historical Criticism
– The historian’s role in writing history, to reiterate, is to provide
meanings to facts that he gathered from primary sources (facts from
manuscripts, documents) or those that have been gathered by
archaeologists or anthropologists (artifacts).
– He/She can only make conclusions and generalizations based on
them.
– It is therefore his duty to check on the authenticity of the sources that
are presented to him to be used as basis in writing history.
– Sources have to undergo doubting and therefore should be critically
tested for validity.
There are two kinds of criticisms that a
historian can use in the process; these are
1. External
Criticisms
2. Internal Criticisms
A. External Criticism
– The ‘External Criticism’ covers the physical
examinations of sources like documents, manuscripts,
books, pamphlets, maps, inscriptions and monuments.
– In original documents it includes looking at the paper and
ink used whether or not it is within the same circa as the
content of the work.
Following are the elements that have to be
taken into consideration in doing validation:
I. Authorship.
– The name of the author of the document usually provides
credence in the establishment of validity of a certain
document.
– The author’s name in itself can provided for the test of
authenticity.
– In cases of anonymous writings when the exact name of the author
is not known then the office that holds the record should also be
taken into consideration.
II. Date and place of publication
– The date of the document including the time and place of
publication should be properly analyzed in order to establish its
authenticity.
– Modern day documents and publication have their date and place
of publication usually printed at the back of the title page.
– However, for manuscripts there are usually no date and place of
publications indicated. In such cases, the historian should look for
dates mentioned within the manuscript or cross check with other
records.
III. Textual errors
– The historian should always be in the lookout for
errors in the text of documents and manuscripts.
– There are two kinds of errors in documents
1. unintentional or
2. intentional.
IV. Meanings of words used.