Gottschalk Understanding History

UNDERSTANDING
HISTORY
DEFINITION OF HISTORY
 derived from the Greek noun ἱστορία

ἱστορία (historia) = learning; inquiry
 “the past of mankind”
History - chronological record of significant events, the study of past
events.
-Webster’s Vest Pocket Dictionary(Springfield:

Merriam Webster, Inc., Publishers), p. 149
KASAYSAYAN IN THE LANGUAGE AND
PERSPECTIVE OF FILIPINO
KASAYSAYAN
• saysay (narrative or salaysay)
• saysay (relevance, importance)
• If relevant, for whom?
• Zeus Salazar definition: Salaysay na may saysay para sa sinasalaysayang grupo ng tao
(Relevant stories/narrative of the people).
“If you talk to a man in a language he
understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to
him in his language, that goes to his heart.”
-Nelson Mandela
HISTORY AS RECONSTRUCTION
• the historian is many times removed from the events under investigation
• historians rely on surviving records
HISTORY DEFINED BY E.H. CARR
• the inquiry conducted by the historian and the series of past events
into which he inquires
• is the continuous process of interaction between the historian and his
facts, an unending dialogue between the present and the past
• History means interpretation
• History is what the historian makes
• History is the re-enactment in the historian's mind of the thought whose
history he is studying. -Collingwood
• History is the historian's experience.
-Oakeshott
• History is “a selective system” not only of cognitive, but of causal,
orientations to reality. -Parsons
• “Only a part of what was observed in the
past was remembered by those who
observed it; only a part of what was
remembered was recorded; only a part of
what was recorded has survived; only a part
of what has survived has come to the
historian’s attention; only a part of what has
come to their attention is credible; only a
part of what is credible has been grasped,
and only a part of what has been grasped can
be expounded or narrated by the historian.”
- Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History
HISTORIANS HAVE TO VERIFY
SOURCES, TO DATE THEM,
LOCATE THEIR PLACE OF
ORIGIN AND IDENTIFY THEIR
INTENDED FUNCTIONS
Historical Method
 The process of critically
examining and analyzing
the records and survivals of
the past
Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History
“Each generation of historians develops its
own perspectives, and that our understanding
of the past is constantly reshaped by the
historian and the world he or she inhabits”
-Howell & Prevenier
HISTORICAL SOURCES
 These are objects from the past or testimonies concerning the past
on which historians depend in order to create their own depiction of
that past.
- Howell and Prevenier, From Reliable
Sources an Introduction to Historical Method
 Tangible remains of the past -

Anthony Brundage, Going to Sources
Historical Sources
 materials used for the writing of history.

They are classified into two:
1. Primary Sources
2. Secondary Sources
Another type of classification are:
1. written and non-written,
2. published or unpublished,
3. textual, oral or visual sources
Written Sources
1. Published materials
 Books, magazines, journals,
 Travelogue
 transcription of speech
2. Manuscript [any handwritten or

typed record that has not been
printed]
 Archival materials
 Memoirs, diary
Non- written Sources
Oral history
Artifact
Ruins
Fossils
Art works
Video recordings
Audio recordings
What are Primary Sources?
Testimony of an eyewitness
A primary source must have

been produced by a
contemporary of the event it
narrates
-Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History
 materials produced by people or groups
directly involved in the event or topic being
studied.
they are either participants or witnesses.
these sources range from eyewitness accounts,
diaries, letters, legal documents, and official
documents (government or private) and even
photographs
Four Main Categories of Primary Sources
1. Written sources
2. Images
3. Artifacts
4. Oral testimony
What are Secondary Sources?
A secondary source interprets and

analyzes primary sources. These sources
are one or more steps removed from the event.
Secondary sources may have pictures,

quotes or graphics of primary sources in them.
- http://www.princeton.edu/~refdesk/primary2.html
Examples of secondary sources:
History textbook
Printed materials (serials, periodicals

which interprets previous research)
(C) GOOGLE IMAGE
ADAM AND EVE
PAINTER :TITIAN
DATE: CA. 1550
“ The historian without his fact is rootless and
futile; the facts without their historian are
dead and meaningless”
- E. H. Carr
WHAT IS HISTORICAL CRITICISM?
What is Historical Criticism?

In order for a source to be used as evidence in history, basic matters about its form and
content must be settled
1. External Criticism
2. Internal Criticism
WHAT IS EXTERNAL CRITICISM?
The problem of authenticity
To spot fabricated, forged, faked documents
To distinguish a hoax or misrepresentation

TESTS OF AUTHENTICITY
1. Determine the date of the document to see whether they are anachronistic
e.g. pencils did not exist before the 16th Century
2. Determine the author

e.g. handwriting, signature, seal

TESTS OF AUTHENTICITY
3. Anachronistic style
e.g. idiom, ortography, punctuation
4. Anachronistic reference to events

e.g. too early, too late, too remote
5. Provenance or custody
- determines its genuineness
6. Semantics – determining the meaning of a text or word
7. Hermeneutics – determining ambiguities
-Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History

WHAT IS INTERNAL CRITICISM
The Problem of Credibility

Relevant particulars in the document – is it credible?
Verisimilar – as close as what really happened from a critical examination of best
available sources

TESTS OF CREDIBILITY
1. Identification of the author

e.g. to determine his reliability; mental processes, personal attitudes
2. Determination of the approximate date

3. Ability to tell the truth
- nearness to the event, competence of witness, degree of attention
4. Willingness to tell the truth
- to determine if the author consciously or unconsciously tells falsehoods
5. Corroboration
i.e. historical facts – particulars which rest upon the independent testimony of two or more
reliable witnesses

THREE MAJOR COMPONENTS TO EFFECTIVE
HISTORICAL THINKING
1. Sensitivity to Multiple Causation

2. Sensitivity to Context
3. Awareness of the interplay of continuity and change in human affairs
“All historians, whatever their professional status, have ethical obligations to be humane,
accurate, selfaware and judicious.”
- Ludmilla Jordanova
ACKNOWLEDGMENT/REFERENCES:
• Ma. Florina Orillos-Juan, Ph.D. Department of History, De la Salle University Manila

• Gottschalk, L.(1969). Understanding History: A Primer of Historical Method. New York:
A.A. Knopf.
• Howell, M. & Walter, P.(2001).From Reliable Sources:An Introduction to Historical
Methods.Ithaca, New York:Cornell University Press.
Maraming salamat po!

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UNDERSTANDING

 derived from the Greek noun ἱστορία

-Webster’s Vest Pocket Dictionary(Springfield:

 Tangible remains of the past -

 materials used for the writing of history.

2. Manuscript [any handwritten or

A primary source must have

A secondary source interprets and

Secondary sources may have pictures,

Printed materials (serials, periodicals

What is Historical Criticism?

The problem of authenticity

To spot fabricated, forged, faked documents

To distinguish a hoax or misrepresentation

2. Determine the author

- Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History

4. Anachronistic reference to events

7. Hermeneutics – determining ambiguities

-Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History

The Problem of Credibility

- Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History

1. Identification of the author

2. Determination of the approximate date

- Louis Gottschalk, Understanding History

1. Sensitivity to Multiple Causation

• Ma. Florina Orillos-Juan, Ph.D. Department of History, De la Salle University Manila

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