College History/Western History

Question 1

History is…
Historians are…
history is…

Answer 1

The academic inquiry into the past

Professionals (doctorates) trained in this study

The past

Question 2

Historical Facts

Answer 2

Do exist but are different than hard scientific fact, (No significance until you assign importance to them, ascribe meaning)

Question 3

Sources

Answer 3

Primary Source: actual evidence a coin, bowl, fossil, architecture etc… (no historical information can change the validity of a primary source/ how it is found is important)
Secondary Source: book/ article
Tertiary Source: a source of sources (text book)

Question 4

History is

Answer 4

Alive and changes all the time, with the discovery of new primary sources.

Question 5

Historian Biases

Answer 5

ALL Historians have biases some have agendas (be careful of this)

Question 6

Professional Consensus

Answer 6

Is the closest to the most “correct/good” history you can get.

Question 7

Western History

Answer 7

Western assumptions about history we’ve developed from (Europeans and the U.S) due to them being the “dominant culture”, when this was recorded and taught.
can participate in the biases aside from this being your culture

Question 8

What qualifies as the West?

Answer 8

Europe and the U.S.

Question 9

Historiography

Answer 9

The art and science of history and the methods of History; old info brought forward in a new way, modern objectivity (being objective, in the best way you can)

Question 10

Western Assumptions

Answer 10

Looking for historical truth… what is the true history?

Question 11

Greeks Who Influenced History

Answer 11

Heradotus: great grandaddy of history (for the west), broke down history vs myth, wanted to write things down… (get rid of the oral tradition) well traveled and told a good story (kinda unbiased)
Thucydides: “Better historian” wanted eye witnesses and really good documentation (dates and times approach), mostly covered Greek wars and politics, summarized people through his own lense of character studies

Question 12

Christian History

Answer 12

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (Jesus canonically existed as a Jew in the Middle East and Christianity grew into religion under Emperor Constantine in Rome)
Promotes Linear path (in western history) from Garden of Eden to Idealized Futures. History progresses in a positive line.

Question 13

Medieval History

Answer 13

Begins at the end of Roman History… Christian monks were the only educated, (church school) promotes concept of God’s Plan and how it was playing out in Human Existence.

Question 14

Gregory of Tours

Answer 14

Scholar, and monk (they were political leaders for they controlled land, wealth) miracles were common place (reported them) and were a sign of gods plan, pushy religious views, to be a good Christian vs what would happen if you weren’t. Promoted God’s Plan/ Morality in Religion

Question 15

Religious Influence on History

Answer 15

Moral “good guys” and “Villians”. History as part of a greater plan (look to history to find the “right” side of history)

Question 16

Renaissance History

Answer 16

More Religious after the Black Death, Renew interest in the Greek Language (translating Latin Bibles, original Bibles)

VALLA (THEY DISCOVERED A FRAUD!!!) The Donation of Constantine, (Constantine did not make a donation of land to the Christian’s….) began a lot of uncertainty in the factuality of the church… this lead to the Protestant Revolution (Protestant=protest against Roman Christians)

German Protestants delved into history to find religious truths

Question 17

Enlightenment History

Answer 17

Scientific History (Newtons etc..) trying to understand the laws of nature, wanted to perfect humanity by studying mistakes/humanity from the past.

Descartes: doubted history, if it wasn’t math, i don’t like it…

Question 18

Giambatlista Vico

Answer 18

Wanted to understand Humanity and ourselves, created Hero Ideology, great gods and men and the idea of progress in history, but progress is not always good. Idealist

Created the concept of Nationalism: ( not the same as patriotism) push for the nation state, Jules Michele’s (made Joan of Arch into a National Hero) wanted to promote French pride and the concept of being a connected people

Question 19

Thomas Carlyle

Answer 19

History is basically the story of Great-men, hero’s of history

Question 20

Leopoldo Von Ranke

Answer 20

Brought all of the ideas together, and wanted to get down to basics. Removed Feelings from the situation, introducing Scientific Objectivity, History should be UNBIASED Professional History

Summarized…
Michelet: promoted national identity
Carlyle: great hero’s
Von Ranke: scientific objectivity

Question 21

Historical Materialism

Answer 21

Technology and economics (the REAL world shapes history) how history is perceived changes with different perceptions (rich vs poor)

Question 22

Karl Marx

Answer 22

Economic Approach (socialism) to history, modernist vs materialist ALL ABOUT THE MONEY!!

Question 23

20th Century History and It’s Consequences

Answer 23

NATION BUILDING: 19th Greece, 20th France, Italy, Germany, and even the U.S. all focus on the creation of nations can be good or bad… can be terrible (nazi’s)

Question 24

Postmodernism and 19th Century Assumptions

Answer 24

A lot of POEPLE died during WWII: this ruined the idealistic utopian mindset, questioned everything.

Michel Foucault—— REMOVAL OF WESTERN INFLUENCE studied historical language tried to adjust the way we speak about the past, changes of language and phrases tried to change the verbiage of “the doers vs the done to”

Issues of Postmodernism: “their are limitless right” versions of history, reduces history to the study of words or literature, removes the history from history.