Readings in Philippine History
Key Notes
(Chapter 1: Meaning & Relevance of History)
History was derived from the Greek word historia which means
knowledge acquired through inquiry or investigation.
History is the study of events that had happened in the past and
the causes of those events.
Herodotus an ancient Greek historian believed to be the first to
apply a systematic investigation into past events.
Teodoro M. Kalao is the Father of Philippine Libraries.
·Internal criticism- is the examination of the content of the
material, including its truthfulness. This includes the author’s
analysis of the source, its content when it was made or written, and
its possible agenda or intended purpose among others.
Internal criticism- is the process of verifying historical evidence
through its physical characteristics and analyzing its material
consistency with the period it was produced. This includes the
analysis of the language used and the physical material such as ink
and paper.
Dean C. Worcester- Acting Secretary of Interior in the Philippine
Islands during the American period.
Primary and Secondary Sources are the two types of sources in
historical research
Primary Sources
-Firsthand accounts or direct evidence about an event, object,
person, or work of art. Produced during the time under study by
people who experienced or witnessed the event.
Examples:
Diaries, letters, speeches, Photographs, videos, audio recordings,
Original manuscripts, maps, artifacts, Government records, census
data, Newspaper articles written at the time of the event, fossils,
memoirs, eyewitness accounts, tools, speeches, autobiography,
ornaments.
Secondary Sources
-Interpretations, analyses, or summaries of primary sources created
after the fact. Produced by someone who did not experience the
event firsthand.
Examples: History textbooks, Academic articles analyzing
past events, Documentaries interpreting historical events,
Biographies written after the subject’s death, Review articles or
historical commentaries, encyclopedia, textbooks, thesis,
movies, news reports, news articles, interviews, almanacs,
scholarly journals, transcriptions
Key Difference:
Primary sources = direct evidence (the “raw data” of history)
Secondary sources = interpretation or explanation based on
primary sources.
Readings in Philippine History
The course analyzes Philippine history from multiple perspectives
through the lens of selected primary sources coming from
various disciplines and of different genres.
Students are given opportunities to analyze the author's
background and main arguments, compare different points of
view, identify biases and examine the evidences presented in
the document.
Priority is given to primary materials that could help students
develop their analytical and communication skills.
The end goal is to develop the historical and critical
consciousness of the students so that they will become versatile
articulate, broad-minded, morally upright and responsible
citizens.
Historiography- deals with the study of the history itself.
Historians- they are responsible for the analysis, interpretation,
and organization of the facts.
To validate claims of historical events and to balance the inevitable
biases in interpretation, historians relies largely on historical
sources.
Methodologies are applied by historians to ensure as much as
objectivity as possible.
Disciplines that helps historians to accurately trace events that
happened in the past. These are: biology, biochemistry,
linguistics and archaelogy.
Historians- who writes history
Reliable historical evidence should be used to validate claims.