Transcript history - cistokwonderwiki

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
More ?...
• We can´t understand the present without references
to the past
(The past explains the present)
• All knowledge is historical knowledge
lay in the past)
(as it
• 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)
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)
METHODOLOGY
Is 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
Paradigm shift/
Change of attitude
new evidence
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 valuefree
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 teachingsMonotheism 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.