User:Phlsph7/History - Definition

Definition

As an academic discipline, history is the study of the past. It conceptualizes and describes what happened by collecting and analyzing evidence to construct narratives. These narratives cover not only how events unfolded but also why they happened and in which contexts, providing an explanation of relevant background conditions and causal mechanisms. History also examines the meaning of historical events and the underlying human motives driving them.

In a slightly different sense, history refers to the past events themselves. In this sense, history is what happened rather than the academic field studying what happened. When used as a countable noun, a history is a representation of the past in the form of a history text. History texts are cultural products involving active interpretation and reconstruction. The narratives presented in them can change as historians discover new evidence or reinterpret already-known sources. The nature of the past itself, by contrast, is static and unchangeable. Some historians focus on the interpretative and explanatory aspects to distinguish histories from chronicles, arguing that chronicles only catalog events in chronological order, whereas histories aim at a comprehensive understanding of their causes, contexts, and consequences.

Traditionally, history was primarily concerned with written documents. It focused on recorded history since the invention of writing, leaving prehistory to other fields, such as archeology. Today, history has a broader scope that includes prehistory, starting with the earliest human origins several million years ago.

It is controversial whether history is a social science or forms part of the humanities. Like social scientists, historians formulate hypotheses, gather objective evidence, and present arguments based on this evidence. At the same time, history aligns closely with the humanities because of its reliance on subjective aspects associated with interpretation, storytelling, human experience, and cultural heritage. Some historians strongly support one or the other classification while others characterize history as a hybrid discipline that does not belong to one category at the exclusion of the other. History contrasts with pseudohistory, which deviates from historiographical standards by relying on disputed historical evidence, selectively ignoring genuine evidence, or using other means to distort the historical record. Often motivated by specific ideological agendas, pseudohistorians mimic historical methodology to promote misleading narratives that lack rigorous analysis and scholarly consensus.

Purpose

Various suggestions about the purpose or value of history have been made. Some historians propose that its primary function is the pure discovery of the truth about the past. This view emphasizes that the disinterested pursuit of truth is an end in itself, while external purposes, associated with ideology or politics, threaten to undermine the accuracy of historical research by distorting the past. In this role, history also challenges traditional myths lacking factual support.

A different perspective suggests that the main value of history lies in the lessons it teaches for the present. This view is based on the idea that an understanding of the past can guide decision-making, for example, to avoid repeating previous mistakes. A related perspective focuses on a general understanding of the human condition, making people aware of the diversity of human behavior across different contexts—similar to what one can learn by visiting foreign countries. History can also foster social cohesion by providing people with a collective identity through a shared past, helping to cultivate and preserve cultural heritage and values across generations.

History is sometimes used for political or ideological purposes, for instance, to justify the status quo by making certain traditions appear respectable or to promote change by highlighting past injustices. Pushed to extreme forms, this can result in pseudohistory or historical denialism when evidence is intentionally ignored or misinterpreted to construct a misleading narrative serving external interests.

References

Sources

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• Kipfer, Barbara Ann (2000). Encyclopedic Dictionary of Archaeology. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 978-0-306-46158-3.
• Välimäki, Reima; Aali, Heta (2020). "The Ancient Finish Kings and their Swedish Archenemy". In Fugelso, Karl (ed.). Politics and Medievalism. Vol. 3. Boydell & Brewer. ISBN 978-1-84384-625-3.
• Allchin, Douglas (2004). "Pseudohistory and Pseudoscience". Science & Education. 13 (3). doi:10.1023/B:SCED.0000025563.35883.e9.
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• Woolf, Daniel (2019). A Concise History of History: Global Historiography from Antiquity to the Present. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-42619-0.
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• Kragh, Helge (1987). An Introduction to the Historiography of Science. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-38921-1.