History is a record of unique events in life of mankind. History is a German word ‘Geschichte’ that means a significant narrative of past events. History is a subject that deals with the past.
History is not just conserving and understanding past but also completion of what has been going on at present. Thus the nature and scope of history is too vast, touching almost every aspect of human activity. To understand the complexity of history let us begin with a few definitions of history.
Definitions of History:
History is a Greek word that means research , exploration. The Greeks were the earliest to define history. And what beautiful definitions they gave.
Greek definitions on history
History is philosophy teaching by examples was one such definition given by Dionysius of Halicarnassus. In other words he wanted to convey that history is a sum of human experiences drawn from real life and presented as a whole. This is nothing by philosophy teaching the growth of human mind over the years. Aristotle another scholar mentions that history contrasts research into facts and also that history is an account of unchanging past. History is unchanging because the basic nature of man does not change and only the activities vary w.r.t to their details.
Polybius and Thucydides mention that history is a story of things worthy of being remembered; i.e only unique events constitute history not all common and sundry things.
History & Thought
Going further, Professor Henry Johnson mentions that history in the broadest sense is everything that has happened in the past. This is a very broad definitions. So Professor Finlay says that history is a sequence of events traced in their relations. So he is trying to categorise history into some sort of order. Professor Maitland says that what men have done and said, above all what they have thought that is history. so here history is relegated to thought level where it is the thought process that is given credit. Sir Francis Bacon defines history as a discipline that makes men wise. After all by presenting the past it shows what is right and wrong and makes men wiser.
History & Society
There are some more definitions. While Greeks thought history is a story ad philosophy and some scholars thought that history is though, G.I Renier mentions that history is story of men living in societies. His focus was growth of mantis collective intelligence to build orderly societies. A.L Rowse goes one step further and says that history is record of men living in societies in their geographical and physical environment. Environment is given due consideration here; after all birth of ancient civilisations was near river valleys and so on… Mounatins have shaped history etc.
Carlyle says that history is biography of great men. So he does not give any credit to common man only powerful people. While Seeley says that history is past politics and politics is present history. Lord Acton says that history is the story of human freedom. His stress is on freedom of will that blooms and becomes history.
History & Morality
Moral values and religion too come under history’s definitions. Lecky says that history is the record and explanation of moral values. Leibnitz says that history is true demonstration of religion.
History & Science
Seignobos says that history is a science of reasoning. E.H Carr says history means interpretation. Earnest Bernheim says history is science. It is science because it taken in to account all happenings, it searches and explores the facts to present it in proper manner and it also tries to find the root of the problem. In this regard history acts like science.
Conclusion:
Having seen all the definitions of history, we can say that history is a record of events that indicate the growth of man’s mind and intelligence and how he used better ways of living. History is a study of forces social, political, economical and psychological that shaped the course of human progress. Objectively history is all things that happened -wars, conquests, battles decline and rise of civilisations. Subjectively it is all things that has happened in the human consciousness.
Finally proper understanding of man by man is business of history which it does by narrating man’s unique ideas, thoughts and deeds so that man could know everything worth knowing about what man has ever done or hoped or felt.
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