RPH History and Definitions

• The Greek word "historia" means knowledge acquired through inquiry or investigation and relates to everything that had happened in the past
• History is described as an account of an unchanging past by Aristotle
• Collingwood in 1945 defined history as the study of life in society in the past, in relation to present developments and future hopes, based on evidence
• Burckhardt stated that history is the record of what one age finds worthy of note in another
• NCERT defines history as the scientific study of past happenings in all their aspects, in the life of a social group, in the light of present happenings
• Jawaharlal Nehru views history as the story of Man’s struggle through the ages against Nature and the elements
• Paleontology studies fossils to understand the past, evolution, and our place in the world
• Archaeology reconstructs behavioral patterns and material culture of past populations through the study of material remains
• Political science studies the foundation of the state and principles of government, complementing history in understanding political institutions
• Anthropology helps historians understand the cultural patterns and behavior of primitive peoples belonging to different races
• Sociology analyzes human interactions and interrelations, contributing to historical reconstruction
• Psychology complements history in analyzing the motives and actions of man and society
• Linguistics studies language and its structure, aiding historical reconstruction through analyzing vocabulary, grammatical forms, and social changes
• Economics uses history theories to substantiate its facts and supports them with statistics and mathematics
• Geography studies the physical features of the earth and human activity, providing essential knowledge for understanding history
• Historians collect and evaluate information from primary sources using the historical method to answer questions about historical events
• Historians must convert historical sources into historical knowledge and follow certain techniques and rules in the historical methodology
• Historical facts are determined by historians and history can never be completely objective
• Ang kahapon, kasalukuyan, at kinabukasan ay iisa. - Luis Camara Dery (1946-2023)
• ·        History, in its broadest sense, is everything that ever happened. -Henry Johnson