History and Historians
1.0
Every man his own historian
periodize your life
identify primary sources
family archives
2.0
How do you think historically?
3.0
Some Quotes
“History is something that never happened, written by someone who wasn’t there”
“The first educational affect of studying history is to train the mind of the citizen into a state
in which he is capable of just view of political problems”
“History is God’s work, which we must submit to, but which we may seek to understand in
order that we may submit to it intelligently”
“The historians concern with the future is not to predict but to envision.”
“Every generation must inevitably understand the past and anticipate the future in the light
of its own restricted experience, must inevitably play whatever tricks on the dead it finds necessary
for its own peace of mind.”
“The scientific historian sets down the facts and lets them speak for themselves.”
“It is not I who speak, but history speaks through me.”
“I think that when the history of this period is written by men not embroiled in the turmoil
of the times, they will conclude that we have done a pretty fair job.” Nixon
“history’s greatest tradition is to help us understand ourselves and our world so that we may
formulate relevant and reasoned alternatives.”
“History is one of the most misleading, and therefore dangerous approaches to knowledge if
viewed or practiced as a process of reaching into the past for answers sufficient unto the present
and the future.”
“History repeats itself.”
4.0
What are the tools of the historian?
5.0
What factors shape the personal reference of the historian? [bias]
personal
age, gender, family, religion, income, group, theory or philosophy, oral or
metaphysical, thesis
6.0
How is the historian like. . . .
judge, detective, artist, statesman, scientist
7.0
Is it possible for the historian to “rethink” the past?
8.0
Is history a science? Prove or disprove. Must first decide what a science is.
1.
Body of knowledge methodically arrived at and systematically related
2.
Have general truths or laws that are always true
3.
Be able to make absolute predictions
4.
Must be Objective
9.0
Theories of History
Religious
Geopolitical
Economic
Challenge and Response
Organic
10.
11.
Great Man
Obstacles to the Historian who seeks truth objectively
access to sources, censorship, travel, classified documents, distant past
evaluation of sources
language barriers
nationality
Time and Expense
travel permission [visa & passport]
Asking the right questions
Assessment and Evaluation
What is fact?
What is important?
Historiography Lesson
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
Logic & Fallacies
1)
Post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy
after the fact...therefore because of the fact
(every time the price of bread skyrockets, the peasants always revolt)
(therefore, jumps in the price of bread must cause peasant riots)
“The exception is the rule” rule
using isolated and carefully selected examples to make broad generalizations.
“Fallacy of historical hindsight”
by crunching numbers or compiling numerous documents from the past one can
often make unenlightened [incorrect] yet statistically correct judgments about the
past.
“Sometimes, in history, people’s perception of what has happened is often more
important than what actually happened.”
Judging the past by today’s standards
History is often more of a product of the times in which it [the history] was written
than it is a product about the times of which it was written.
INTERPRETATIONS
1)
Traditional (consensus)
the first agreed-upon interpretation of the events
2)
Revisionist
the interpretations which follow and critique the traditional; they focus on areas or issues
neglected or ignored by the traditional. Sometimes these interpretations present and interpret new
evidence which was not previously available when the traditional was written.
3)
Post-revisionist / Synthetic (consensus)
usually the final interpretation which can affirm the traditional but which incorporates
information from the revisionist which enriches understanding or corrects misconception. It
sometimes presents new evidence, as well