“The first foundations of all history are the recitals of songs from fathers to children, which are then passed from one generation to the next; At their origin, they are more likely if they do not offend common sense, and they lose a degree of probability with each generation. (The Philosophical Dictionary) “History, a real solemn story that does not interest me. I read it a bit like a duty, but it doesn`t tell me anything that doesn`t bother or tire me. The quarrels of popes and kings, with wars or plagues, on each side; Men are all so good at nothing and almost no women at all – it`s very tiring. (Northanger Abbey) Whether you like history or not, there`s no denying the impact it leaves on us. From the above definitions, one can easily deduce the scope, value, and objectives of the story discussed in the following topics. “The most important lessons of history? There are four: first, whom the gods destroy, they first make them mad with force. Secondly, God`s mills grind slowly, but they grind excessively small. Third, the bee fertilizes the flower that steals it.
Fourth, if it`s dark enough, you can see the stars. (Attributed to historian Charles Austin Beard, but this version is the one used by Martin Luther King in “The Death of Evil on the Coast.”) “It`s so hard to find and find out the truth about anything throughout history.” (Life of Plutarch) In fact, the development of history began with ancient Greek historians such as Herodotus and Thucydides. History is the study of the human past as described in written documents left by humans. The past, with all its complicated decisions and events, the dead participants and the story told, is what the public perceives as the immutable foundation upon which historians and archaeologists rest. “Most of the events recorded in history are remarkable rather than important, such as solar and lunar eclipses, which attract everyone, but whose effects no one bothers to calculate.” (A week on the Concord and Merrimack rivers.) No one could say the best definition isn`t short, but it helps if you can be funny too. “History is not what you thought. That`s what you remember. Every other story defeats itself. (1066 and all that) But as purveyors of the past, historians recognize that the bedrock is really quicksand, that parts of each story have not yet been told, and that what has been told is colored by the conditions of the present. While it is not wrong to say that history is the study of the past, here is a collection of much clearer and more accurate descriptions.
Not everyone likes the study of history or finds it useful. Henry Ford was a prime example, as was Henry David Thoreau, which was perhaps one of the few things these two gentlemen had in common. “If a science of history were realized, it would allow, like the science of celestial mechanics, to predict in a predictable way the future of history. It would bring together all the historical events in one area and reveal the current future until its final end, including all the apparent decisions that have been taken and must be taken. That would be omniscience. The Creator would possess the qualities that theologians attribute to God. The future, once revealed, would have nothing to do but wait for its demise. “A race of men is like an individual man; As long as he does not use his own talent, is not proud of his own history, he does not express his own culture, that he can never realize himself. “HISTORY, n. A mostly false report of mostly unimportant events, which are provoked by leaders mainly squires and soldiers mostly fools: From Roman history, the great Niebuhr showed that nine-tenths lie. Believe me, I wish it would know, before we accept the great Niebuhr as our guide, what he erred, and how much he lied. (Devil`s Dictionary) This treatise on historical methodology, originally published in 1950, is based on a liberal conception of history that does not exclude any narrator of past events from the ranks of historians.
He defines history as the exact history that preserves the memory of the past experiences of human societies. The function of history determines its method and gives the answer to the question: What is the certainty of our knowledge of the past? According to the author, the story is empirical and its results are always preliminary. The relative merits of dogmatism and skepticism are examined, and various interpretations among English historians are examined. Prof. G.R. Elton: “History deals with all human words, thoughts, deeds and sufferings that have taken place in the past and left the present; Prof. A.L. Rowse: “History is essentially the recording of people`s lives in societies in their geographical and physical environment. Their social and cultural environment derives from the interaction of each other, society and its geographical location. “History is an account of the events that have occurred among humanity, including an account of the rise and fall of nations, as well as other major changes that have affected the political and social situation of humanity.” (John Jacob Anderson) “History that is not used is nothing, because all intellectual life is action, like practical life, and if you don`t use this kind of thing well, they might as well be dead.” Lord Acton: History is the unfolding story of human freedom. » Part 1: What is history? 1.
The story that needs to be told 2. Just a story 3. The past itself? Part 2: Event detection 1. Events and their traces 2. Trace recognition 3. From tracing to event 4. Certainty, doubt and common sense 5. Our knowledge of events Part 3: Telling the story 1. Relevance and serialization 2.
Some serialization methods 3. Human behaviour 4. Die Geschichtsphilosophie des Historikers 5. The “laws” of history 6. History as art 7. Historian “History is. A dialogue between the present and the past. (Originally: history is a dialogue between the present and the past.) (What is history?) What forgiveness is there after this knowledge? Think NowHistory has many cunning passages, corridors and invented themes, deceived by whispering ambitions, leads us through vanities.
Think nowShe gives when our attention is distractedAnd what she gives gives with confusions so sweet that giving hungry desire. Give too lateWhat is not believed, or if one still believes in it, only in the memory, reconsidered passion. Give too soonIn weak hands, what is thought, can be abandonedUntil rejection spreads fear. Neither fear nor courage save us. Unnatural vices are engendered by our heroism. The virtues are imposed on us by our scandalous crimes. These tears are shaken from the wrathful tree. (“The Waste Land”, Prufrock and other poems) “History is and should be a science. History is not the accumulation of events of any kind that took place in the past. This is the science of human societies. Will Durant: “History is an account of what civilized people thought or did in the past. Prof.
Carl G. Gustavson: “History is a mountainous peak of human knowledge from which the deeds of our own generation can be scanned and brought into the right dimensions. History allows man to see himself as part of that living process of human growth that emerged from the past and will inexorably project itself beyond our own lives. We are the product of the past, but not the complete product. Prof. Renier: “History is the memory of societies. “History is nothing more than a trick we play on the dead. (Original French) “I saw a time when you didn`t like history. After all, it is just a pile of harassment that is done to the dead. “Thomas Charlyle “Weltgeschichte ist eine Biography großer Männer”.
The story, Stephen says, is a nightmare I`m trying to wake up from. (Ulysses) You know, it`s so strange, I`ve known four forms of government in my life: monarchy, republic, Hitler`s Reich, American democracy. The [Weimar] Republic was only. 1918 to 1933, it`s been fifteen years! Imagine that, only fifteen years. But then Hitler was going to last a thousand years and he only lasted time. 1933 to 1945. Twelve, only twelve years! Ah! “As for the pyramids, there is nothing to be surprised about except the fact that so many men have been humiliated enough to spend their lives building a tomb for an ambitious madman who would have been wiser and more masculine to drown in the Nile and then give his body to the dogs.” (Walden) Between 1942 and 1944, science fiction writer Isaac Asimov wrote the first short stories that formed the basis of the Foundation trilogy. The main concept of the Foundation trilogy is that if you are a good mathematician, you can accurately predict the future based on the archives of the past. Asimov has indeed read extensively, so it is not surprising that his ideas are based on the writings of other historians.