HISTORY Joëlle 2012

SOURCES:

TOK for the IB Diploma Van de Lagemaat (Oxford univ.press)TOK /Sue Bastian (Pearson Baccalaureate)

http://www.theoryofknowledge.net/areas-of-knowledge/history

What is history ?

• ´”The” / ”A” story of the past.• The story of the past as of the present traces

of the past. • A record of significant events of the past.• It is the formal study of selected areas of

history

FUNCTION OF HISTORY Why do history ?

"Try to imagine what it would be like to live in a society where there was absolutely no knowledge of the past.”

Arthur Marwick ”The Fundamentals of History”

Other functions of history ? • Celebration of achievements

• Condemnation of practices of a time

• Regret/Revison: Some histories are written as apologias

• Explanation/Justification of actions

• Collective memory: To provide a group identity

• We can´t understand the present without references

to the past

(The past explains the present)

• All knowledge is historical knowledge (as it lay in the past)

• Human construct collective identity through the past.

• The history of human kind is the history of knowledge development:

(it enriches our understanding of human nature)

More ?...

and more ………• A simple interest in what happened : (truth in history cannot be claimed except in terms of

historical facts)

• A way of acquiring the ‘contextual knowledge’ of literature, paintings, and other words of art

• Developing a sense of ‘scepticism and caution’

• A defence against propaganda

• A reflection about multiple perspectives

• Because humans are metacognitive or self-analytic

More functions again……

• may be academic ambition (radical new theories on why an event happened

always make a big intellectual impact

• money (history books can be bestsellers, and get their authors into the popular press)

• to forward an ideological position

• attack or defend a government

• or toe the political line of the nation in which the history account is written.

TRUTH ? What is the nature of truth in history ?

Truth is based on historical facts

Truth can be approached from multiple perspectives

Truth is sensitive to paradigm shifts and interpretations

(correspondance+ coherence+ pragmatic are used)

METHODOLOGYIs History a science or an art ?• All history is a combination of fact and interpretation

• Facts are selected from what is available

• Interpretation arises from the intent of the historian and reflects the prevailing values

of his or her society (cultural paradigm)**

A dynamic relationship … The historian

era of the…

the events the audience

….which reflects the values of the time

CULTURAL PARADIGM**

Historical process

• Kuhn´s model applied to history:

Traditional school

Revisionist school new evidence

Paradigm shift/ Change of attitude

A dynamic process • History reflects the values of the time

• Historian cannot (re)run experiments

• Historical evidence is in continuous renewal

• History appears to work in dualities of concepts: Great persons and great movement theory /certainty and

uncertainty

• An historical fact has little worth without interpretation

• History should aim to be objective, but not sterile or value-free

TOOL OF THE HISTORICAL INQUIRY?

• PRIMARY SOURCES:

The account of people who lived at the time of the actual event or movement

• SECONDARY SOURCES:

Are written much lated and based upon selected primary sources

Strenghts ?• PRIMARY SOURCES Account from people who lived at the time .

Eye witnesses and 1st hand knowledge. A product of its time

• SECONDARY SOURCES: Exhaustive survey of all available sources .

insight: What turned out to be important?

A product of its time

POTENTIAL problems and limitations of historical knowledge

PRIMARY SOURCES:

• KNOWLEDGE CONVEYORS (WOK):(language perception emotion) can distort the

production of primary sources.(Eg massacre/Ethnic cleansing)

• FALLIBLE EYEWITNESS: Some events might be exaggerated, played down

or ignored.

• SOCIAL BIASES: Written by a social elite/ ”the winners”, powerful,

educated, the court, the church

Secondary sources• A selection of a selection:

Role of intent: purpose/preconception of the historian. While there are other perspectives, history is written and judged from the vantage point of the historian and the audience

The tendency to focus on the extraordinary at the expense of the ordinary, to impose order or find patterns

Multiple perspectives= conflicting views Hinsight bias School of thoughts (Great persons versus great movements theories)

Knowledge as history THE KNOWER´S COMMON INHERITANCE

Confucianism”the cultivation of the ”gentleman” or the superior learner”

• ”When you know a thing, to hold that you know itm and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it, this is knowledge” Confucius 6th BC ”Analects”

BOUDHISM*:The cultivation of wisdom and compassion

• ”All created things are transitory (impermanent, changing): those who realize this are freed from suffering. This is the pas that leads to pure widsdom”

Walpola Rahula, Buddhist scholar

• *India, South/East Asia

The Israelites:Jewish teachings-Monotheism and the cultivation of justice

A vision of monotheism (Yaweh that represented the name of an omnipresent and mysterious God ) allied to ethical behaviour and social justice, was the powerful combination that greatly influenced the ideas and practices of the later religions of Christianity and Islam, touching a considerable proportion of humanity,

GREECE: The cultivation of rationalism and ”Eudemonia”*• The Greeks faith in the capacity of human

reasoning and a commitment to eudemonia allowed the construction of the foundations of some of humanity’s great historical achievements, including political democraty, rational debate and inquiry, the scientific method and aesthetic catharsis

*”Eudemonia” means the flourishing of the human body and soul.