Lesson Summary

This lesson focuses on the understanding of the nature of history and meaning and
relevance. Added topics in this lesson are the thoughts of George Wilhelm Friedrich
Hegel, Friedrich Nietzsche and Robin George Collingwood.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this lesson, students are expected to:

1. Explain the meaning and relevance of studying history

2. Determine the different types of history and their focus on the study.
3. Respond to the challenge of historical revisionism through articulating the uses
and importance of studying history.

Motivation Question

What is history? Why is it relevant?

Discussion

The lives of people, in present and future generations, are influenced by historical events.
The bulk of structures in every city, barrio, and country was built in the past to suit the goals, and
aspirations of the people, which the present deemed non-operational or obsolete. Past population
movements, tyranny by the powerful, religious faiths, and communal identities formed are all
fundamental sources of conflict in the past. Governmental systems, political ideologies, artistic
and cultural beliefs, conventions, educational practices, and conduct are all products of the pastS,
both recent and distant (Marwick, 1989). Furthermore, we are left with vestiges and traces now—
most notably the buildings, cities, and streets. Recollections, traditions, and rituals passed down
from generation to generation also include traces of the past. Myths and fables are also a part of
‘the past,' which is a vast and complex collection of events, ideas, systems, and frivolous activities
(Marwick, 1989).

Human society opted to build a field that tackles the need to examine, explore, and cherish
the past since it is important and vital. As a means of comprehending the past, history as an
academic field involves the abilities of analyzing and interpreting materials. The word "history"
comes from the Greek word "enquiry." It refers to both the investigation process and the report
that results from the investigation. History, according to Marwick (1989), is an interpretation of
the past, and as interpretations of the past were duplicated, a body of knowledge grew.

History is concerned with the evolution of human society. This development is the product
of collective movements, or at least the extent to which they have influenced collective behavior.
History is linked to sociology, philosophy, and psychology while also being distinct from them. It
is interested, like sociology, in the phenomena of the masses that result from physiological needs
or moral tendencies. History, on the other hand, refers to gaining concrete knowledge of what
existed at the time. It tracks all of life's vicissitudes in it, identifies its unique qualities, and
elucidates all that has happened over time to shape it into what it is today. It is concerned, like
psychology, with identifying the internal processes that explain and determine an individual's
behavior. Individuals' concerns about history arise solely because of the impact of a particular
person. Some Filipino heroes like Andres Bonifacio, Emilio Aguinaldo, Jose Rizal, Emilio Jacinto,
and others inspired not just their contemporaries but also the Philippines today (Pirenne, 1933).

Furthermore, to have a deeper understanding of history below are the perspectives of

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Friedrich Nietzsche and Robin George Collingwood. Their
reflection about is deemed necessary.

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Hegel's fascination in history is well-known and undeniable. In fact, his interest in history
is inspired by various causes. This includes his classical education at German secondary school,
and later at the Protestant seminary, his interest in current events, the French Revolution, and the
emergence of the knowledge problem in German idealism (Rockmore, 2009). Hegel’s contribution
to the philosophy of history is marked with metaphysical, religious and empirically based. Thus,
the meaning Hegel finds in the course of history can only fully be expounded by means of
metaphysical notions like “world spirit,” which are derived from his general philosophical position
(Dray, 1964). Hegel's biggest contribution to philosophy was the introduction of a historical
aspect; he believed that philosophers had a special insight into history that ordinary historians
supported. Only a philosopher truly comprehends about reason. It is the world's sovereign, and
that the world's history is a rational process (Kenny, 2006).

There are three methods to do history, according to Hegel. Original History is the first. This
includes historians like Herodotus, Thucydides, and others, whose descriptions are essentially
limited to deeds, events, and states of society that they experienced and shared in spirit. They
simply represented what was happening in the world in the realm of representative cognition
(Hegel, 2001; Singh and Mohapatra, 2008).
Reflective history is the second type of history. Meaning, the style of depiction is not
limited by the confines of the chronological period to which it refers, but whose spirit reaches
beyond. There are four types of Reflective history:

(a) Universal history. The goal of the investigation is to gain a view of the entire
history of the people, countries, or the world;
(b) Pragmatical history. The occurrence is taken out of the category of the past
and made virtually present; and
(c) Pragmatical history. The occurrence is elevated from the realm of the past to
the realm of the present. Despite their abstract form, pragmatical musings are truly of the
present, hastening the chronicles of the dead past with the live today. It is up to the writer's
spirit whether such reflections are actually intriguing and enlivening. Despite their abstract
nature, pragmatical beliefs are truly and indefensibly of the present. It combines the
stories of the past with the lives of people today. Whether such observations are engaging
and enlivening is determined by the writer's own spirit. It's important to note that this isn't
a history lesson. Because it is a critique of historical narratives and an investigation of
their truth and dependability, it is legitimate to call it a history of history. Its peculiarity (in
terms of both fact and goal) is the acuity with which the writer draws information from the
records that was not present in the cases recounted; and
 (d) Specialized history, the greatest form of contemplative history, announces its
fragmentary nature right away. It adopts an abstract viewpoint, yet it relates Philosophy
to World History since it considers universal perspectives (such as the history of art, law,
and religion) (Hegel, 2001).

Philosophical history is the third type of history. The most general description is that
historical philosophy is nothing more than the serious analysis of history. Humanity cannot exist
without thought. This is what sets us apart from the brutes. Thought is an invariable element in
sensations, cognition, and intelligence, in our impulse, and own volition to the extent that they are
truly human (Hegel, 2001).

Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Nietzsche’s reflection had been enormously influential to the current trends in
philosophy, who advocated a radical revaluation of values. He emphasized that one must be
suspicious accepting information and valuing ideas in making life and finding meaning in it
(Kenny, 2013). Humans are aware of not just existing, but also of living well or badly, according
to Nietzsche. Life is not solely something that occurs to people; it is also something that they
engage based on their ideals (Preuss, 1980; Jensen, 2013).

He pointed out in his essay On the Use and Disadvantage of History for Life that humans
need history for life and action, not for selfishness and cowardly, terrible conduct. In conducting
history, he saw that there is a level of doing history and evaluating it that results in life withering
and degeneration. Historical men are persons who find solace in history in the hope of a better
future. These historical figures think that as time passes, more light is shed for the purpose of
existence, and they look back to ponder that process solely to better grasp the present and grow
to love the future more passionately (Nietzsche, 1873).

Nietzsche identified three kinds of history: monumental history, it focuses on the

individual as far as it is active and striving. History belongs, primarily, to the powerful individual
who fights a tremendous battle, where the great moments in individual struggle form a chain, the
high points of humanity are linked in them through millennia, and what is greatest in such a distant
past be still alive. The call for monumental history expresses the underlying notion of
humankind's faith in humanity (Nietzsche, 1873).

As a result, the benefit of monumental history at present is the awareness that the
magnificent that once existed was at least feasible once and may probably be achievable again,
serving as a source of inspiration in times of weakness. It is just a collection of "effects in and of
themselves," or happenings, that will always generate an effect. What is commemorated, in
national holidays, religious or military days of memory, is an effect in and of itself (Nietzsche,
1873; Jensen, 2013).

Then there's antiquarian history, which belongs to someone who cherishes and preserves
the past. He aims to preserve the conditions in which he grew up for people who will come after
him by tending to what has long endured with loving hands. For him, the history of his culture and
country becomes the history of his own identity. Even across the vastness, he will occasionally
welcome the soul of his people as if it were his own. Furthermore, antique perceptions of a man,
an urban neighborhood, or a complete people always have a very narrow field of view; what is
seen is observed intimately and in isolation. In this situation, there are no differences in value or
proportion for the things of the past. Instead, there are only measures and proportions for those
things in connection to the antiquarian individual or people looking back at them (Nietzsche,
1873).

As a result, antiquarian history degenerates the moment the vitality of the present ceases
to animate and inspire it. It only knows how to conserve life, not how to create it; it consistently
undervalues what is in the process of being because it lacks the ability to detect its significance
(Nietzsche, 1873).

Finally, critical history pertains to an individual as a victim in need of liberation. A person

who is critical of history must have strength and use it (from time to time) to shatter and demolish
something in order to exist by studying and rejecting the past. In his battle against untrustworthy
sources, the critical historian uses codex and lexicon to examine the heritage and tradition of
interpretation that have grown up around historical assertions (Jensen, 2013). In the light of
skeptical examination, the origins of long-held traditions and belief systems are painstakingly
uncovered and exposed naked.

Robin George Collingwood

He was a British archaeologist and philosopher who specialized in aesthetics and history
philosophy. In the dispute regarding the nature of explanation in the social sciences, and whether
they can be explained in the natural sciences, his own philosophy of history took center stage. It
has fueled his research in topics including moral, social, and political philosophy, as well as the
relationship between historical thinking and action (Connelly and D'Oro, 2015).

History, according to Collingwood, is concerned with human action. The world generated
by human acts of reason and choice is the focus of discussion concerning history as an object.
People can learn about the world of human action through historiography. We can create a
philosophy of history by reflecting on typical activities in modern historiography. Simultaneously,
we are constructing a broad description of how actions are understood. Collingwood's actions
can be deduced by looking at the historical context and the choices that agents made (Helgeby,
2016).

Collingwood evidently believed history was an odd profession. Historians try to write
intelligently about situations that no longer exist. They are beyond observation, experiment, and
reproduction, but the histories of these states of affairs, many of which are very different from
our own, such as pyramid construction, child’s sacrifice, and coming-of-age rituals, as well as
others with which we are more familiar, such as coronations, strikes, wars, revolutions, and
marriages, tell us how we came to be who we are. If history is more than a collection of facts, it
necessitates an idea of knowledge that is far beyond realism (Johnson, 2013).

Furthermore, Collingwood highlights the importance of understanding our emotions and

wishes to be aware of alternatives, because we always want something different from what we
already have. Since history is the sphere of moral acts or acts of choice, there are three grounds
for an individual to make a reasoned decision between alternatives, according to Collingwood.
 First, a decision can be made for the sake of utility, such as when pursuing a particular
action is cost-effective. Understanding why someone selects one method over another
necessitates more than a knowledge of the efficacy of the means to an end.

Second, a decision may entail abiding a particular law or rule. We can try to comprehend
the behavior, such as when we describe it as displaying regularity or as a societal law, both of
which are inadequate. A rule or a law alone will not suffice to guide our behavior. We may be able
to assess a situation objectively in each case, rendering rule-following either "unnecessary" or
even malicious.

Finally, a choice might be a duty-driven action. The concept of obligation in Collingwood's

mind is of tangible action. It is his take on Kant's "categorical imperative." It is one's responsibility
to perform a specific act in a specific situation (Helgeby, 2016; Dray,1995).

Historiography provides us what we need, for the situations in which we must intervene.
Rather than rules, we need the understanding from history to behave effectively. It is crucial in
determining the cause of moral or political issues. To understand our alternatives, we must first
understand what we are capable and who we have become, which necessitates historiography.
Similarly, historiographic accounts of what options people must choose and what they have
become might help us comprehend others (Johnson, 2013).

Collingwood's work emphasized the importance of historiography in understanding

ourselves, and others. We can historiographically comprehend the conditions in which we find
ourselves. Practical reasoning requires us to see ourselves as characters in certain historical
stories. The issue we ask ourselves in practical reasoning is which of our competing desires we
will pursue. We rule out numerous possibilities since they do not meet our needs or go against
our values. The notion of freedom from duty allows us to comprehend not just our own actions
in the past and now, but also the actions of others, and hence history, the arena of human action
(Helgeby, 2009).

Uses of History

History should be studied, according to Peter Stearns (1998), because it is necessary for the
advancement of human society. Staerns identified the following uses of history:

1. History Aids Our Understanding of People and Society-History provides a wealth of

knowledge about how people and societies interact. History serves as a laboratory while
historical data serves as evidence in the necessary quest to understand why our
complicated species behave in society the way it does. As a result, history provides a rich
evidence base for the contemplation and analysis of how societies work, and people
require some understanding of how societies’ work.

2. History Provides Identity—it is crucial to know our identity, whether individually or as part
of a group, and this is one of the reasons why Philippine History Readings are part of our
educational system. Because historical data contains information about how families,
groups, institutions, and entire countries were established and evolved.
3. 3. History's Importance in Our Own Lives— Stories about people and societies from the
past elicit reflections about the human experience in various eras and locations. As a
result, the way they live their lives and the events that occurred in the past have influenced
and inspired us in the present.

4. Good Citizenship Requires a Knowledge of History— Initially, proponents of citizenship

history hoped to instill a sense of national pride and allegiance through vivid events and
lessons in personal success and virtue. History provides information on the emergence
of national institutions, challenges, and ideals, which is vital for successful citizenship.
Providing evidence of how countries have interacted with other societies, as well as
international and comparative viewpoints that are critical for responsible citizenship.
Furthermore, it promotes mental habits that are necessary for responsible public action,
whether as a national or local leader, an informed voter, a petitioner, or a bystander.

5. History Aids Moral Understanding—History can also be used for moral reflection.
Studying the lives of historical figures, and situations puts our own moral sense to the
test, allowing us to sharpen it against some of the real-life difficulties that people have
faced in tough situations. Individuals who have overcome difficulty under real-life
historical conditions serve as role models.