What is History?
In answering the question "What is history?", we might begin by saying that it is the study of the past. This may be a reasonable first approximation, but the answer is in fact more complicated that that. To start with, since we can know the past only to the extent that we have evidence for it, it would be more accurate to say that history is not so much the study of the past as of the present traces of the past. |
This brings us to a second qualification we need to make about the nature of history. History is not a record of everything that happened in the past, but is concerned with only the significant events in the past. For example, while the assassination of a ruler or president (ie. Julius Caesar or Abraham Lincoln) are historically significant, the fact that they ate breakfast the morning of their assassinations is probably not.
The third important feature of history is that it is concerned with not simply with describing the past, but also with explaining and understanding it. After all, history is more than just a catalogue of important dates and events; and although a historian may need to devote considerable energy to establishing what happened, this is usually a prelude to trying to understand why it happened. Historians might typically be trying to understand such things as the collapse of the Roman Empire, or the causes of the First World War, or the rise of Terrorism.
The third important feature of history is that it is concerned with not simply with describing the past, but also with explaining and understanding it. After all, history is more than just a catalogue of important dates and events; and although a historian may need to devote considerable energy to establishing what happened, this is usually a prelude to trying to understand why it happened. Historians might typically be trying to understand such things as the collapse of the Roman Empire, or the causes of the First World War, or the rise of Terrorism.
Why Study History?
Since history does not seem to have the immediate practical value of science, you might wonder why we should bother studying it. The car maker Henry Ford dismissed history as 'more or less bunk,' and in an age obsessed with progress, it is sometimes seen as 'yesterday's news' with no relevance to the present. There are, however, some good reasons for studying the past.
Conclusion
Despite the fact that the past no longer exists, history seeks to reconstruct it on the basis of evidence that can be found in the present. We must take seriously the idea that there is some kind of truth about the past and that a good historian can at least help us to get closer to the truth.
Why study history? To understand the present! Do we learn from history? The jury is still out! You have doubtless heard it said that we should study the past to learn from our mistakes. But, since history never repeats itself, there are no simple lessons that we can take from the past and mechanically apply to the present. What the study of history can perhaps give us is something altogether more elusive; good judgement about human affairs. If that is the case, the we might agree with the historian Jacob Burckhardt that is does not "make us more clever the next time, but wiser for all time."
Since history does not seem to have the immediate practical value of science, you might wonder why we should bother studying it. The car maker Henry Ford dismissed history as 'more or less bunk,' and in an age obsessed with progress, it is sometimes seen as 'yesterday's news' with no relevance to the present. There are, however, some good reasons for studying the past.
- History gives us a sense of identity
- History is a defense against propaganda
- History enriches our understanding of human nature
Conclusion
Despite the fact that the past no longer exists, history seeks to reconstruct it on the basis of evidence that can be found in the present. We must take seriously the idea that there is some kind of truth about the past and that a good historian can at least help us to get closer to the truth.
Why study history? To understand the present! Do we learn from history? The jury is still out! You have doubtless heard it said that we should study the past to learn from our mistakes. But, since history never repeats itself, there are no simple lessons that we can take from the past and mechanically apply to the present. What the study of history can perhaps give us is something altogether more elusive; good judgement about human affairs. If that is the case, the we might agree with the historian Jacob Burckhardt that is does not "make us more clever the next time, but wiser for all time."