What is history
What is history?
Why bother?
What some people have said is history:
History is only a confused heap of facts.
(G.K. Chesterton)
The past is useless. That explains why it is past. (Wright Morris)
History is an argument without end.
(Peter Geyl)
History is the witness that testifies to the passing of time; it illuminates reality, vitalizes memory, provides guidance in daily life, and brings us tidings of antiquity.
(Cicero)
What experience and history teach is this‐that people and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it.
(G. W. F. Hegel)
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
(Santayana)
If you do not like the past, change it.
(William L. Burton)
The challenge of history is to recover the past and introduce it to the present. (David Thelen)
The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there. (L. P. Hartley)
The function of the historian is neither to love the past nor to emancipate himself from the past, but to master and understand it as the key to the understanding of the present.
(E. H. Carr)
Do any of these statements really tell us what history is?
History is accounts of
Peo p Ob
le
s t c e j
s e c a l
P
e m ti n i s t n e v E
&
So, wh at i s h t t i Is
y d u e st
hist ory ?
? s t c a f f o NO!
Are there historical facts?
• Some things from the past can be considered to be facts, if they are very well documented and there is no real dispute.
• Historical facts can be historical people, dates, places and events may be considered as historical facts by historians if there is sufficient evidence in the historical record and this evidence is contemporary with these people, dates, places or events.
• But, history is not about when something happened, or about knowing the names of historical people.
History is about
d i d y h g W n i h t e Why people did som en in p something? p a
?
h e c a l p t a h t Who made the o bjects and why?
?
n e p
Why bother?
What some people have said is history:
History is only a confused heap of facts.
(G.K. Chesterton)
The past is useless. That explains why it is past. (Wright Morris)
History is an argument without end.
(Peter Geyl)
History is the witness that testifies to the passing of time; it illuminates reality, vitalizes memory, provides guidance in daily life, and brings us tidings of antiquity.
(Cicero)
What experience and history teach is this‐that people and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it.
(G. W. F. Hegel)
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
(Santayana)
If you do not like the past, change it.
(William L. Burton)
The challenge of history is to recover the past and introduce it to the present. (David Thelen)
The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there. (L. P. Hartley)
The function of the historian is neither to love the past nor to emancipate himself from the past, but to master and understand it as the key to the understanding of the present.
(E. H. Carr)
Do any of these statements really tell us what history is?
History is accounts of
Peo p Ob
le
s t c e j
s e c a l
P
e m ti n i s t n e v E
&
So, wh at i s h t t i Is
y d u e st
hist ory ?
? s t c a f f o NO!
Are there historical facts?
• Some things from the past can be considered to be facts, if they are very well documented and there is no real dispute.
• Historical facts can be historical people, dates, places and events may be considered as historical facts by historians if there is sufficient evidence in the historical record and this evidence is contemporary with these people, dates, places or events.
• But, history is not about when something happened, or about knowing the names of historical people.
History is about
d i d y h g W n i h t e Why people did som en in p something? p a
?
h e c a l p t a h t Who made the o bjects and why?
?
n e p