LEARNING

HISTORY
MEANING AND RELEVANCE
What is HISTORY?

It is derived from the Greek word

HISTORIA ίοτορα
which means knowledge acquired through
inquiry and investigation
The meaning of “HISTORY"
• The English word “history” is derived from
the Greek noun istoi’a, meaning learning

• For the Greek philosopher Aristotle, history

meant a systematic account of a set of
natural phenomena, whether or not it was a
chronological account
– EXCERPTS FROM UNDERSTANDING HISTORY: A PRIMER OF HISTORICAL METHOD
BY LOUIS GOTTSCHALK (1950, NEW YORK; KNOPF, P.17)
The meaning of “HISTORY"
• Over time, the Latin word Scientia was used
to designate non-chronological systematic
accounts of natural phenomena – thus the
English word science

– EXCERPTS FROM UNDERSTANDING HISTORY: A PRIMER OF HISTORICAL METHOD

BY LOUIS GOTTSCHALK (1950, NEW YORK; KNOPF, P.17)
The meaning of “HISTORY"
• The word history was usually reserved for
accounts of phenomena, especially human
affairs, in chronological order
• By its common definition, history means the
past of mankind

– EXCERPTS FROM UNDERSTANDING HISTORY: A PRIMER OF HISTORICAL METHOD

BY LOUIS GOTTSCHALK (1950, NEW YORK; KNOPF, P.17)
Adaptation to classical Latin:

Historia became known as the

past of the account of a person or of a
group of people through written
documents and historical evidences
History Differentiated:
History vs. Past
The past is not the same as history

History is the process of interpreting

evidence or records from the past in a
thoughtful and informed way.
It gives meaning, sense, and explanation
to the past in the present.
History Differentiated:
History vs. Prehistory
Prehistory is the period of human activity
prior to the invention of writing systems

History is the record of significant events

that happened in the past
History Differentiated:
History vs. Other Disciplines
No discipline is an island

History stands with social sciences and

humanities and vice versa
History Differentiated:
History, Historicity & Historiography

History is a narrative account used to

examine and analyze past events

Historicity is the authentication of

characters in history, as opposed to
legend or myth
History Differentiated:
History, Historicity & Historiography

Historiography is the writing of history,

and the understanding of how the
interpretations of historians
change over time
History Differentiated:
History vs. Herstory

History is etymologically unrelated to the

possessive pronoun ‘his’

It has nothing to do with the author

(“his” “story”)
Why study history?

Looking at the past teaches us to see the

world through different eyes –
appreciating the diversity of
human perceptions,
beliefs, and
cultures
Why study history?

Different and new perspectives

will enable us to analyze critically
the present contexts of society and beings
The Uses of History
“Those who have employed the
study of history, as they ought,
for their instruction, for the
regulation of their private
manners, and the management of
public affairs, must agree with me
that it is the most pleasant school
of wisdom.”

– JOHN DRYDEN
Nature of History: History as
Reconstruction

1. “Past-as-it-actually-happened”
– History in the first sense
2. Historian’s Accounts
– “Useful and accurate” glimpses of the
contours of the past
What is History?
a) Chronological Storytelling
b) Interpretive
c) Revisionist
d) Constant Process of Questioning
e) Integrative
f) Inclusive
g) Historiography
h) Relevant
Approaches:
IDEALISM HISTORICISM RELATIVISM
 People’s thoughts  “The autonomy of  Belief that there is
& the intent the past must be no absolute truth,
behind their respected “. and all views of
actions. (What is  Each event must history are valid.
meant by those be described in the  Each individual’s
events..) context of its time view is valid.
 Biased, incomplete (values).
or inaccurate.  Inhibits our ability
to fully learn from
its mistakes of the
past.
Issues Among Historians:
• “Belief Based On Consensus”
– Just because a majority believes in something
doesn’t make it valid.
– Accurate Reporting of History
• Perception & Interpretation
– Evidence should be able to hold up to scrutiny.
– In History, proof is not always available.
THEORIES OF HISTORY
CYCLICAL VIEW of HISTORY
The ancient Greeks thought that events occurred on
regular a basis

Herodotus (484-424 BCE)

Histories: story of men & states

as recurring cycles
THEORIES OF HISTORY
CYCLICAL VIEW of HISTORY
The ancient Greeks thought that events occurred on
regular a basis

Thucydides (460-404 BCE)

Envisioned time as recurring in a

cyclical fashion, a process
beyond the control of men
THEORIES OF HISTORY
CYCLICAL VIEW of HISTORY

Petrarch (1304-1374)

Revived cyclical concept of history

Basis of history: actions of

people
THEORIES OF HISTORY
CYCLICAL VIEW of HISTORY

Machiavelli (1469-1527)

Suggested that history could be

seen as a casebook of political
strategy
THEORIES OF HISTORY
CYCLICAL VIEW of HISTORY

Arnold Toynbee (1884-1975)

Oswald Spengler (1880-1936)

Believed that civilizations rise and

fall, each new one rising to a new
level
THEORIES OF HISTORY
LINEAR VIEW of HISTORY

This view implies the acceptance or

subscription to linear time. It views that history
is progressive, moving forward, and not having
a cyclical return
THEORIES OF HISTORY
LINEAR VIEW of HISTORY

Augustine (350-430 BCE)

Saw history as being the

unfolding of the plan of God, a
process that would end in the
Final Judgment
THEORIES OF HISTORY
LINEAR VIEW of HISTORY

Voltaire (1694-1788)

Saw history as cyclical but in a

more secular way

Envisioned four great ages of

man culminating in the scientific
enlightenment of Newton
THEORIES OF HISTORY
LINEAR VIEW of HISTORY

Marxist historians

Saw history as a series of class struggles that

inevitably ends in a workers’ revolution
THEORIES OF HISTORY
LINEAR VIEW of HISTORY

H.G. Wells (1866-1946)

Described history as a race

between education and disaster,
either as a world cataclysm or a
world state
THEORIES OF HISTORY
GREAT GOD VIEW of HISTORY

It is the theological version of history which

asserted that divine beings directed human
affairs together with the rest of the cosmos

Elaborated by the Sumerians, Babylonians,

Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and further
expounded in Israelite scriptures (Christian &
Mohammedan religions)
THEORIES OF HISTORY
GREAT MAN VIEW of HISTORY

Suggests that dominant personalities determine

the course of history

Rulers, warriors, statesmen are the decisive

forces of history & history is the record of the
deeds of great people
THEORIES OF HISTORY
BEST PEOPLE VIEW of HISTORY

Believes that some elite, the Best Race, the

favored nation, the ruling class alone make history

• Old Testament: Israelites – Chosen People

• Ancient Greeks regarded themselves as apex
of culture
• Hitler thought that the Aryan race was superior
THEORIES OF HISTORY
GREAT MIND VIEW of HISTORY

The conditions that create history are created or

changed by ideas

Anaxagoras: reason governs the world

Aristotle: God – prime mover of the universe – is

a pure mind engaged in thinking about itself
THEORIES OF HISTORY
HUMAN NATURE VIEW of HISTORY

History has been determined by the qualities of

human nature , good or bad

Thucydides: human nature & human behavior are

the same in one century and another

David Hume: mankind is so much the same in all

times and places
THEORIES OF HISTORY
ECONOMIC VIEW of HISTORY

Economic factors are the most important

determinant of history

Karl Marx (1818-1883): foremost proponent

- it was not the ideas that created the material
conditions but the reverse
THEORIES OF HISTORY
GENDER HISTORY

Looks at the past from the perspective of gender

Considers in what ways historical events &

periodization impact women differently from men

Joan Kelly: “Did Women Have a Renaissance?”

THEORIES OF HISTORY
POST-MODERN VIEW of HISTORY

History is “what we make of it”

The historian is left to his own imagination &

ideological bent to reconstruct what happened in
the past

Jacques Lacan & Michel Foucault: each

historical period has its own knowledge system
THEORIES OF HISTORY
OTHER VIEWS of HISTORY

• History: result of geographic factors

• Wars determine history
• Religion, race, & climate determine history’s
course
THEORIES OF HISTORY
OTHER VIEWS of HISTORY

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)

History has no beginning or end

Michel Foucault (1926-1984)

The victors of a social struggle use their political
power to suppress their adversary’s version of
historical events in favor of their own
propaganda