Chapter 1
Introduction to History: Definition, Issues,
Sources, and Methodology
Learning Objectives:
• To understand the meaning of history as an academic discipline
and to be familiar with the underlying philosophy and methodology
of the discipline
• To apply the knowledge in historical methodology and philosophy
in assessing and analyzing existing historical narratives.
• To examine and assess critically the value of historical evidences
and sources.
• To appreciate the importance of history in the social and national
life of the Philippines.
Definition and Subject Matter
History has been known as the study of the past
History was also focused on writing about wars, revolutions and other
important breakthroughs.
History was derived for the Greek word historia which means
“Knowledge acquired through inquiry or investigation”
History is the study of the past, the events that happened in the past,
and the causes of such events.
History has played a vital roles in the past. States uses history to unite a
nation. It can be used as a tool in legitimate regimes and forge a sense of
collective identity through collective memory.
Historia become known as the account of the past of the person or a group
pf people through written documents and historical evidences.
Questions and Issues in History
This dynamism inevitable produced various perspectives on the discipline
regarding different questions like:
What is History?
Why study history? and
History for whom?
-these questions can be answered by Historiography.
Historiography is the history of history. Thus, historiography is the study
of itself.
Historiography is important for someone who studies history because it
teaches the students to become critical in the lesson of history.
History and Historian
- indeed, the exact and accurate account of the past is
impossible for the very simple reason that we cannot go back to the
past. We cannot go back to the past. We cannot assess directly as our
subject matter. Historians only get to access representation of the past
through historical sources and evidences.
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is
regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the
continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as
relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time.
Is a person of his own who is influenced by his own context,
environment, ideology, education, and influences among others.
Different School of Thought
• Positivism – is the school of thought that emerged between the
eighteenth and nineteenth century. This thoughts requires
empirical and observable evidence before one can claim that a
particular knowledge is true.
- it also entails an objective means of arriving at a
conclusion. In the discipline of history, the mantra “no document,
no history” stems from this very same truth, where historians were
required to show written primary documents in order to write a
particular historical narrative.
Different School of Thought
• Post-colonialism is a school of thought that emerged in the early
twentieth century when formerly colonized nations grappled with
the idea of creating their identities and understanding their
societies against the shadows of their colonial past.
Post colonial history looks at the two things in writing history: 1. is
to tell the story of their nation that will highlight their identity free
from that of colonial discourse and knowledge, 2. is to criticized the
methods, affects, and idea of colonialism.
Different School of Thought
• The Annales School of History – is a school of thought born in
France that challenged the canons of history. This school of
thought did away with the common historical subjects that were
almost always related to the conduct of states and monarchs.
• Concerned with social history and studied longer historical
periods.
• Study also the history of peasantry, the history of medicine, or
even the history of environment.
Historical Sources
With the past as history subject matter, the
historian most important research tools are
Historical sources.
Historical sources can be classified into two:
Classification of historical sources
Primary sources – are the sources produced at the same time as the
event, period, or subject being studied.
Ex. If a historian wishes to study the Commonwealth Constitution
Convention of 1935, his primary sources can include the minutes of
the convention, newspaper clippings, Philippine Commission reports
of the US Commissioner, records of the convention, drafts of the
constitutes, and even the photographs of the event. The eyewitness
accounts of convention delegates and their memoirs can also be used
as primary sources. The same goes with other subjects of historical
study. Archival documents, artifacts, memorabilia, letters, census,
and government records, among others are the most common
examples of primary source.
Classification of historical sources
Secondary sources – are those sources which were produced by an author
who used primary sources to produce the material. In other words,
secondary sources are historical sources , which studied a certain
historical subject.
Ex. On the subject of Philippine Revolution in 1986, students can read
Teodoro Agoncillo’s Revolt of masses. The Story of Bonifacio and
Katipunan published originally in 1956. The Philippine Revolution
happened in the last years of the nineteenth century while Agoncillo
published his work in 1956, which makes the Revolt of the Masses a
secondary sources. A textbook also can be considered a secondary source.
Criticism of sources and evidences
• External criticism – is the practice of verifying the authenticity of
the evidence by examining its physical characteristics; consistency
with the historical characteristics of the time when it was
produced; and the materials used for the evidence.
• Example of the things to be examined, include the quality of the
paper, the type of the ink, and the language and words used in the
material among others
Criticism of sources and evidences
• Internal criticism – is the examination of the truthfulness of the
evidence. It looks at the content of the source and examines the
circumstances of its production.
- looks at the truthfulness and factuality of the
evidence by looking at the author of the source, its context, the
agenda behibd creation, the knowledge which informed it, and its
intended purposed among others.