ABOUT HISTORY. M. Anthony Kapolka III - FYF 101

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1 ABOUT HISTORY M. Anthony Kapolka III - FYF 101

2 Metaphysics / Epistemology Metaphysical question: Is the past real? Seems obvious: Yes. But consider forgotten or false memories... What about the deeper past? Before our memory? Epistemological question: How do we know about the past?

3 Representative Realism There is a deep past, with real people and events. We access this through sensory experiences of surviving documents and artifacts. From this data we reconstruct what happened in the past. Our reconstruction may be incomplete, but it is approximately true given adequate data. Alternative interpretations of the data is possible. Murphey, Truth & History, SUNY Press, 2009.

4 History History as fact... History as written record of facts... formal narrative account of a period or event(s) in the past History History

5 Problems Witnesses to events are usually dead. Testimony may not be accurate... people guess, assume, and lie. Used in a history, words all have a specific, technical definition. Used casually, words mean a lot of different things. Consider a geographical term such as Rome. Consider an assessment: Victorious.

6 Art vs. Science? Adler (How to Read a Book) classifies History nearer to fiction than to scientific writing.

7 Art vs. Science? Adler (How to Read a Book) classifies History nearer to fiction than to scientific writing. but consider the Danegeld &Viking skin in Hadstock...

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9 Art vs. Science? Good historians do not make up the past. However, they always make some things up...

10 Patterns & Purposes Historians find (or impose) general patterns on history. We cannot easily fix our attention on unorganized facts. Usually causes are assigned for events, motivations for actions. Otherwise... people do things for no reason or for a reason we can t fathom. Tolstoy though human action was so deeply unconscious that it was impossible to know why people acted as they do.

11 Patterns & Purposes comparison/contrast between things systematic grouping or generalization bias adhering to traditional views facts chosen to fit into a hypothesis size of subject (too large to cover adequately)

12 Facts We all discriminate between truth and fiction. We trust: observation, reason, witnesses, authority. We verify: being skeptical, attending to details. Historians arrive at truth through probability. Ultimately we rely on evidence and our confidence in evidence Facts rarely appear free from ideas. (Ideas are the suggestions or interpretations which go beyond bare data.)

13 Causes everybody believes in causation no universal agreement about precise definition Aristotle: Four causes - material, formal, efficient, & final. where cause is, there is regularity History: reveals not causes but attending conditions of an event.

14 What was the cause? Our eyewitness states: In the afternoon the pots hanging over the fire did dash so vehemently one against the other [that] we set down one that they might not dash to pieces. I saw the andiron leap into the pot and dance and leap out, and again leap in and dance and leap out again, and there abide... Also I saw the pot turn itself over and throw down all the water. Again, we saw a tray with wool leap up and down and throw the wool out and so many times. Murphey, Truth & History, SUNY Press, 2009.

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16 Witches? Puritans believed in the existence of witches - from the Bible. Modern historians do not believe in witches and seek an alternative explanation. Generally, modern explanations focus on internal conflict at Salem, made difficult to resolve by Puritan religious beliefs.

17 Witches? Puritans believed in the existence of witches - from the Bible. but even they got the idea that they were mostly wrong in these cases. Modern historians do not believe in witches and seek an alternative explanation. Generally, modern explanations focus on internal conflict at Salem, made difficult to resolve by Puritan religious beliefs.

18 Witches? Puritans believed in the existence of witches - from the Bible. but even they got the idea that they were mostly wrong in these cases. Modern historians do not believe in witches and seek an alternative explanation. Generally, modern explanations focus on internal conflict at Salem, made difficult to resolve by Puritan religious beliefs. Conflict between: Men & Women; Adults & Children; For & Against merging with Salem Town

19 (Puritans) Term unevenly applied Protestant Reformation / English Reformation Puritans (England) 16th/17th centuries Arrived at Massachusetts Bay Colony starting 1629 Immediately they founded a college: Today their religious views are closest to:

20 (Puritans) Term unevenly applied Protestant Reformation / English Reformation Puritans (England) 16th/17th centuries Arrived at Massachusetts Bay Colony starting 1629 Immediately they founded a college: Harvard Today their religious views are closest to:

21 (Puritans) Term unevenly applied Protestant Reformation / English Reformation Puritans (England) 16th/17th centuries Arrived at Massachusetts Bay Colony starting 1629 Immediately they founded a college: Harvard Today their religious views are closest to: Presbyterians

22 Multiple Perspectives if every history is written from one point of view... it is helpful to read more than one historical account. but... even if we do not know what really happened... can history still be useful? Discuss!

23 Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War 27 year war between Athens & Sparta in 5th century BC Only account of that war First true historian used eyewitness accounts, interviews consulted written documents did not invoke divine intervention... focused on observable phenomena & identifying cause and effect.

24 Thucydides Lessons taught in his history influenced later leaders Read history not only to learn what happened at that time, but also how people acted as a result of that history and how they act today.