History

• • The English word history is derived from the Greek word “istoia” meaning learning.
• • According to Aristotle, history is the systematic account of a set of natural phenomena whether or not chronological ordering was a factor in an account, and this is considered as natural history. As time passed, the equivalent Latin word “scientia”, which is science in English later was used more to designate non-chronological systematic accounts of phenomena.
• • Presently, the word “history” means the “past of mankind”. History is the study of past events, particularly in human affairs.
• • With the definition of history, it brings man to a recognition that history cannot be reconstructed, that the past of mankind, much of it, is beyond recall. And that even the best of our memories cannot re-create our past.
• • The reconstruction of the total past of mankind is the total goal of historians which, however, is unattainable. Historians will never really know everything that happened in the past.
• • The problem that every historian confronts is that the evidence they rely on is likely to be fragmented, incomplete and even contradictory. The result is, each historian’s conclusions are influenced by the evidence they have selected from what is available and from how they interpreted it.
• Historical Method

  • It is the process of critically examining and analyzing the records and survivals of the past.
• Historical Method - To study objectively (intention of acquiring detached and truthful knowledge independent of one's personal reactions) a thing must first be an object and must have an independent resistance outside the human mind). Most of history is based on the human mind since most of history is based upon recollection(written or spoken history).
• Historical Sources

  • Objects from the past or testimony concerning the past which historians use to create their own depiction of the past.
• • According to Form
  • Written Sources - Published materials (books, journals etc.) and manuscript (handwritten and unprinted like archival materials and memoirs)
  • Non written Sources - Oral history, artifacts, fossils, etc.
• • According to Origin
  • Primary Sources - Testimony of an eyewitness. It must have been produced by a contemporary of that is narrated. It is a document or physical object written or created during the time under study. These sources were present during an experience or time period and offer an inside view of a particular event.
  • Secondary Sources - Interpret and analyze primary sources. They are one or more steps removed from the event. Examples are printed textbooks.