c4 What is History

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WHY DO WE QUESTION

?I NEVER JUDGE THE ABILITY OF

MY STUDENTS WITH THE ACCURACY OF THE ANSWERS

THEY PRODUCE FOR MY

QUESTIONS BUT WITH THE

QUESTIONS THEY PUTFORWARD««

DR. S. RADHAKRISHNAN



WHAT IS HISTORY

The George Macaulay Trevelyan lectures delivered in

the University of Cambridge

January ± March 1961

By

EDWARD HALLETT CARR

F ellow of Trinity College

GROUP µD¶



SOCIETY, INDIVIDUAL AND HISTORY

Society and the individual are inseparable: they arenecessary and complementary to each other, notopposites.

Donne says ¶No man is an island, entire of itself, every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.·

Anthropologists say that primitive man is lessindividual and more completely moulded by his

society than civilized man.

The development of society and the development of the individual go hand in hand,and condition eachother.



Civilized man, like primitive man is moulded by society just as effectively as society is mouldedby him.

The cult of individualism is one of the mostpervasive of modern historical myths.Individualism was the basis of the greatnineteenth-century philosophy of utilitarianism.

A social revolution brings about new socialgroups to positions of power.




The historian,then,is an individual human

being.Like other individuals,he is also a social

phenomenon,both the product and theconcious or unconcious spokesperson of the

society to which he belongs :it is this capacity

he approaches the facts of the historical past.

Great history is written precisely when the

historian·s vision of the past is illuminated by

insights into the problems of the present.




THE HISTORIAN AND HIS FACTS

It was from Germany, the country which was to

do so much to upset, the comfortable reign of

19th

century liberalism, that the first challengecame in the 1880s and 1890s to the doctrine of

the primacy and autonomy of the facts in history

[pg no. 14-15]




The facts are really not at all like fish on the

fishmonger·s slab. They are like fish swimming

about in a vast and sometimes inaccessible ocean;

and what the historian catches will depend partly

on chance but mainly on what part of the ocean

he chooses to fish in.. and what tackle he chooses

to use ² these two factors being of course

determined by the kind of fish he wants to catch.

By and large, the historian will get the kind of

facts he wants.

[pg. no. 18]



The past which a historian studies is not a dead

past, but a past which in some sense is still living

in the present and that the main work of thehistorian is not to record, but to evaluate; for, if

he does not evaluate, how can he know what is

worth recording

[pg. no. 16, 15]




The historian is necessarily selective. The fact

that we reached in this room few minutes ago

after taking our lunch is just as much a fact aboutthe past as the fact that India got freedom in

1947. But it will most probably be ignored by

historians




And so, history can be defined as a continuous

process of interaction between the historians and

his facts and unending dialogue between thepresent and the past

Interpretation is the life blood of history.

[pg. no. 24, 22]




HISTORY, SCIENCE AND MORALITY

Examining fundamental distinction betweenscience and history:

1.History deals exclusively with the unique,

science with the general

2.History teaches lessons through generalization

3.History is unable to predict

4.History is necessarily subjective

5.History involves issues of religion and morality

What is GOD to a historian?



The hypotheses used by the historian isremarkably similar to that of the hypotheses usedby the scientist

Some of the hypotheses in history are:

1.Division of history into periods

2.Division of history into geographical sectors

HISTORY, SCIENCE AND MORALITY





What is the cause of Robinson·s Death?

Jones, returning from a party at which he has

consumed more than his usual ration of alcohol,in a car whose brakes turn out to have beendefective, at a blind corner where visibility isnotoriously poor, knocks down and killsRobinson, who was crossing the road to buy

cigarettes at the shop on the corner.[pg. no. 98]

Rational vs. Accidental Causes

CAUSATION IN HISTORY




History - marshalling the events of the past in an

orderly sequence of cause and effect

The causes determine historian·s interpretation of

the historical process, and his interpretation

determines his selection and marshalling of the

causes

The fact is that all human actions are both free

and determined, according to the point of view

from which one considers them



The world of the historian, like the world of the

scientist, is not a photographic copy of the real

worldBut rather a working model which enables him

more or less effectively to understand it and to

master it

Historians do not assume that events are

inevitable before they have taken place





History begins with the handling down of

tradition; and tradition means the carrying

of the habits and lessons of the past intothe future. Records of the past begin to be

kept for the benefit of future generations.



THE WIDENING HORIZON

Now, it has become possible for the first timeeven to imagine a whole world consisting of people who have in the fullest sense entered into

history and become the concern. No longer of the colonial administrator or of theanthropologist, but of the historian

This is a revolution in our conception of history. Till 18th century, history was a prerogative of theelites

[pg. no. 144]



CRITICAL REFLECTIONS

Like Marx and all other philosophers«.Carr

also seem to be in a hurry«««« hurry toconclude.. and in doing so what he misses

out most probably is that every socio-

economic reality is a dynamic

activity««««. and so is history.



How far is it possible for the observer

to keep him/herself away from the

observed ???

The unending debate on subjectivity

vs. objectivity !!!

CRITICAL REFLECTIONS



THINK OF IT !!

How many times we question our

questions before forwarding it in front

of a person powered by thestate«««««

Just as the kings came out of ouroblivion, the state may emerge with our

silence !!!



The Group ³D´ Team

PUNY ASIL RAJN A MEHRA

RAVI RANJAN RIKA GUITE

RITU RAJ RUPESH SHERSHTA

SACHIN DHAR SAKSHI LAMBA

SANGEETHA SARITHA

SATY A

PRIY A SHAHBAZ

SHAIJU CHACKO

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c4 What is History