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The Study Of History Essay Research Paper

The Study Of History Essay, Research Paper


The Study of History


The study of history is the study of perspectives. Historians have


different perspectives and as Nevins states it is important to study all


perspectives of history to get a full account of an event. There are three


major aspects of history, the first is the definition. What is history? Many


historians have different ideas about that question. Another part of the


study of history is the uses of history. Do we implement what we have


learned from past mistakes to make the present and future better for


generations to come? A final aspect of the study of history is the


historical method, how historians document history.


There is no clear-cut definition of history due to the fact that each


historian has a different frame-of-reference. Davis and Woodman discuss


how there are three major definitions of history that are most commonly


disputed. They are, history is the entire human past; history is all of


recorded human past; and history is what historians write about history.


Some historians believe geography should be included in the study of


history because the geography of a region affects the people who live on it


and the course of history. The definition will always be open and will


forever cause contreversy among historians.


According to some historians studying history can improve a


society?s future and be very important and influential, but as with all


aspects of history, other people such as Karl Marx believe history is just


entertaining. Trevor-Roper believes there is the factor of historical


revenge. He gives the example of nationalism in nineteenth-century


China. The government in China believed that once the intial wave of


nationalism was stopped it would never come back, but they were wrong


as you can see by the events leading up to the protests at Tiennaman


Square in China in the latter part of the 20th century. Dr. Allan Nevins


agrees with Trevor-Roper when he says the pas

t, present, and future are


interrelated. Trevor-Roper?s prediction for the future of Chinese


nationalism is that there will be waves of nationalism until the fight for


the cause prevails. Writers help the historians who believe history is just


entertaining by dressing it up for each occasion according to


Trevor-Roper. Trevor-Roper also believes it is best for a historian to study


all perspectives of one part of history so that he can make his own


interpretations. As previously mentioned, there are different uses of


history dependent on what the historians frame of referemce is.


For history to be accurately studied, it must be written. For


historians to write history, they must study all perspectives and decide


what to write by considering what they feel is important. If the event the


author is writing about is recent enough that there are still some primary


sources available, they will usually get information from that source. If


there is no primary source, the historian will then try to retrieve


information from secondary sources. Once a source is found a historian


wants to find out why something happened. For example, if a teacher


wants to know why a student is late and the student responds, ? because


I overslept?, that would be proximate cause. Then some historians would


go even further and find out why they overslept. A fundamental or


secondary cause would be because the alarm clock wasn?t set.


Sometimes the historians go even further by asking why wasn?t the alarm


clock set. After a certain point the facts become irrelevant. Many


historians feel it is only necessary to know the proximate cause. Just like


the other two aspects of history, there is more than one view of how


history should be written.


It is obvious that history is the study of perspectives, and that the


definition, its uses, and how it is written are important aspects. The


study of history gives society the information that can and will improve


the life present and future.

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