Derives from the Greek word "Historia" meaning learning through inquiry
Aristotle (Greek Philosopher)
Viewed history as a systematic account of natural phenomena
Theories in investigating history
Factual History
Speculation History
Factual History
Focuses on presenting basic and straightforward information to answer the "who", "what", "when", and "where" of historical events
Speculation History
Goes beyond mere facts and explores the "how" and "why" of events
Historian
Individual/Person who writes about history<|>They seek to understand what happened before
Historiography
The process of documenting history<|>Traditionally involves gathering documents from various libraries and archives to accumulate the necessary evidence
The incompleteness of the historical record highlights the inherent limitations of the historian's object of study
Historians can only grasp a fraction of the complete historical narratives, referred to as history-as-actuality, through the "surviving" records known as history-as-records
Verisimilitude
A historian's goal is to present the past in a way that is accurate, real, and believable
