Louis Gottschalk's primer to understanding history. Historical method, historical facts, historiography, primary sources, secondary sources, originality, authenticity, credibility,
1. What is
History?
-from a Greek word Laropia
which means Learning.
-a systematic account of a set
of natural phenomena,
whether or not chronological
ordering was a factor in the
account; and that usage,
though rare, still prevails
in…the phrase natural history.
(Aristotle)
-is a Latin word scientia which
means science
2. Objectivity
and
Subjectivity
-needs objects like ruins, parchments
and coins (objectivity) survive from the
past otherwise the facts of history are
derived from testimony and therefore
are facts of meaning.
-these maybe symbolic or
representative of something that once
real (subjectivity)
3. Artifacts as
sources of
History
Relics of human happenings (objects)
-potsherd, a coin, a ruin, a manuscript, a
book, a portrait, a stamp, a piece of
wreckage, a strand of hair, or
archeological/ anthropological remains
4. Historical
Knowledge
limited by
Incompleteness
of the records
-most humans left no records of any kind
behind them as a result only small part of
what happened was observed.
“… only part of what was observed in the
past by those who observed in the was
remembered was recorded, survived, has
come to the historian’s attention, is
credible, grasped and can be expounded”.
5. History as the subjective process
of Re-creation
Historian can not restore the total past of mankind. He has no way of doing
it but in terms of his own experience. That experience taught him to:
• -yesterday is different from today
• -his own experience is both like and unlike by others.
Therefore, historian’s aim is verisimilitude(rather than losing the
whole , he tries to get as close as an approximation to the
truth)
6. Historical
Method and
Historiography
Defined
Historical Method- is the process of
critically examining and analyzing the
records and survivals of the past.
Historiography( the writing of history)-
is the imaginative reconstruction of the
past from the data derived by that
historical method (the process).
These therefore helps historian
reconstruct, re-create but not create
the past of mankind.
8. History of Historical Method
Thucydides(5th century B.C) wrote about the
Peloponesian War. He told readers how he gathered
materials, test and separate truth from fiction
Methods of historical analysis
• -Selection of a subject for investigation
• -The collection of probable sources of information on
that subject
• -The examination of those sources for
genuineness(either in whole or in part)
• -The extraction of credible particulars from the
sources(or parts of sources) proved genuine.
9. SOURCE
S
-that are not in books but largely on museums
-official records that are found in archives,
courthouses, governmental libraries, etc.
-private papers not available in official
collections but can be found out in business
houses, muniments of ancient castles, prized
possessions of autograph collectors, The
record of parish churches, etc.
10. The distinction between Primary
and Secondary Sources
Primary Source- is the testimony of
an eyewitness, or of a witness by any
other of the senses, or of a
mechanical device like a Dictaphone-
that is, of one who or that which was
present at the events of which he or
it tells(eyewitness)
Secondary Source-is the testimonies
of anyone who is not an eyewitness-
that is of one who was absent at the
events of which he tells.
11. Other Original
Sources
Documents are original when
-content is fresh and creative ideas
-not translated from the language in which it is first written
-because it is the earliest, unpolished stage
-the text is the approved text, unmodified and untampered
-the earliest available source of information
13. The
Document
-means docere, to teach
- They signifies any process
of proof based upon any
kind of source whether
written, oral, pictorial or
archaeological
14. The “Human” and
the “Personal”
Document
Human document is an account of individual
experience which reveals the individual’s action
as a human agent and as a participant in social
life.
All documents are both human and personal
15. The Problem of Authenticity or
External Criticism
Forged or
Misleading
Documents
Test of
Authenticity
Garbled
Documents
The
Restoration
of Texts
Sciences
Auxiliary to
History
Identification
of Author
and of Date
16. Problem of Credibility, or
Internal Criticism
What is
Historical Fact?
The Interrogative
Hypothesis
The Quest for
Particular Details
of Testimony
Identification of
Author
Determination of
Approximate
Date
The Personal
Equation
General Rules
Ability to Tell the
Truth
Willingness to
Tell the Truth
Conditions
Favorable to
Credibility
Heresy and
Secondary
Evidence
Corroboration
Certitude vs.
Certainty
