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
PHILOSOPY AND METHODLOGY OF THE DESCILPINE

TO APPLY THE KNOWLEDGE IN HISTORICAL METHODOLOGY AND

PHILOSOPY IN ASSESSING AND ANALYZINNG EXIXTING
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE

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
 HISTORY
 Study of the past
 Derived from the greek word historia which means “knowledge
acquired through inquiry or investigation”
 Existed for around 2,400 years and is as old as mathematics and
philosopy
 Historia became known as the account of the past of a person or of a
group of people through written documens and historical evidences.
 Became an important academic discipline.
 It became the historian’s duty to write about the lives of important
individuals like monarchs, heroes, saints, and other important
breakthroughs.
 What counts as history? Traditional historians lived in mantra of “no
document, no history” It means that unless a written document can
prove a certain historical event, then it cannot be considered as a
historical fact.
 QUESTIONS AND ISSUES IN HISTORY

 Historiography is the history of history

 History and historiography should not be confused
with each other. The formers object of study is the
past, the events that happened in the past, and
causes in such events.
 The latters’s object of study, on the other hand, is
history itself.
 Historiography is important for someone who studies
history because it teaches the student to be critical in
the lessons of history presented to him.
 POSIVITISM
Is the school of though that
emerged between the eighteenth
and nineteenth century. This
thought requires empirical and
observable evidence before one
can claim that a particular
knowledge is true. Posivitsm also
entails an objective means of
arriving at a conclusion. In the
discipline of history, the mantra
“no documents, no history” stems
from the very same truth , where
historians were required to show
written primary documents in
order to write a particular historical
narrative.
POSTCOLONIALISM
Is the school of though that emerged in
the twentieth century when formerly
colonized nations grappled with the idea
of creating their identities and
understanding their societies against the
shadows of the their colonial past.
Postcolonial history looks at two things
in writing history:
1. Is to tell the history of their nation
that will highlight their identity free
from that colonial discourse and
knowledge
2. Is to criticize the methods, effects,
and idea of colonialism.
 HISTORY AND THE HISTORIAN
 Historians only get to access
representation of the past trough
historical sources and evidences
 Historian’s job not just to seek
historical evidences and facts but
also to interpret theses facts.
“Facts cannot speak for
themselves”
 Historian is not blank paper who
mechanically interprets and
analyzes present historical fact.
 Historical research requires rigor.
Despite the fact that historians cannot
ascertain absolute objectivity, the study
of history remains scientific because of
the rigor of research and methodology
that historians employ.
 Historical Methodology comprises
certain techniques and rules that
historians follow in order to properly
utilize sources and historical evidences
in writing history.
  Is a school of history born in France
that challenged the canons of history.
This school of thought did away with
the common historical subjects that
The were almost always related to the
Annales conduct of states and monarchs.
 They were concerned with social
of School history and studied longer historical
of History period.
 They advocated that the people and
classes who were not reflected in the
history of the society in the grand
manner be provided with space in the
records of mankind
 HISTORICAL SOURCES

The historian’s most Primary Sources Secondary Sources

important research are those sources are those sources
which were produced by
tools are historical produced at the an author who used
resources. same time as the primary resources to
 Historical resources event, period, or produced the material. In
can be classified subject being other words secondary
between primary studied. sources are historical
sources, which studied a
and secondary historical subject.
sources.
Example of Primary Sources:
If the historian wishes to study the Commonwealth Constitution
Convention of 1935, his primary sources can include the minutes of the
convention, newspaper clippings, Phillippine Commission reports of the U.S.
Commissioners, records of the convention, the draft of the Constitution, and
even photographs of the event.

Example of Secondary Sources:

On the subject of Philippine revolution of 1896, students can read
Teodore Agoncillos Revolt of the Masses: The Story of Bonifacio and the
Katipunan published originally in 1956. The Philippine Revolution happened in
the last years of nineteenth century while Agoncillo published his work in 1956,
which makes the Revolt of the Masses a secondary source.
The classification of sources
between primary and
secondary depends not on
the period when the source
produced or the type of the
source but on the subject of
the historical research. Both
primary and secondary
sources are useful in writing
and learning history.
EXTERNAL CRITICISM INTERNAL CRITICISM
is the practice of is the examination of
verifying the the truthfulness of the
evidence. It looks at the
authenticity od evidence
content of the source and
by examining its
examines the circumstance
physical characteristics; of its production. Internal
consistency with the criticism looks at the
historical characteristics truthfulness and factuality
of the time when it was of the evidence by looking
produced; and the at the author of the source,
materials used for its context,the agenda
evidence. behind its creation, the
knowledge which informed
it, and its intended
purpose, among others.