Fr. Aruldoss SJ Head, Dept. of History SCOPE OF HISTORY Fr. Aruldoss SJ Head, Dept. of History

Legendary accounts Facts mixed with Mythologies. Hero-worship Still, relevant, in the sense, they give a socio, economic and religious life of the people. e.g. Gk. Homer’s Iliod and Oddesey (epic narrates the Trojan war) Herodotus and Thucydides also wrote hist. with heroism as the theme. Ramayana and Mahabharata heroes (Raman, Krishna, Sita) Later, Buddhism and Jainism: the ‘Jatakas’ praising the heroic deeds of Buddha and Mahavira.  

2. Influence of Greece They separated hist. from divinity and established only human activities and achievements. They said, “Hist. should be written by facts in which there is no scope for imagination and divine being”. Hist. became an independent subject.

3. Medieval Period Hpy. was ‘Theo-centric’ i.e. theological interpretations of historical events. People believed that God was the moving force behind hist. God is directing the activities of men. The king is the representative of God on earth. God has a pre-determined plan. Hist. witnessed a set-back.

4. Modern Period Renaissance Industrial Revolution Age of Synthesis Emergence of Democracy

Renaissance Scientific approach to hist. Voltaire, Montesquieu, Gibbon, Bacon, Locke, Hume, Barkley, Descartes and Vico a determined revolt against theocentric approach. Hpy. became ‘ethnocentric’ People questioned everything to find out the ‘truth’. This led to the ‘Enlightened Hpy’ by Machiavalli. Scope of hist. widened. Kinds of hist. as political hist., economic hist. cultural hist., military hist. …emerged.

Industrial Revolution It broke out in England in 19th century. It changed the whole outlook of the people. With the introduction of machines, …rapid and enormous production… leading to accumulation of wealth… New classes of people - the rich capitalists and the poor labourers - came into exist. The rich capitalists became richer and richer by accumulating more wealth and the poor labourers and the peasants struggled hard for their survival. Using Hegel’s ‘dialectic’ concept of philosophy, Karl Marx began to interpret hist. from economic point of view. For him, hist. is the hist. of class struggle. Kant said, “Man is a rational being. Hence hist. is progressing towards rationality” Thus, secular and rational approach to hist. emerged.  

Age of Synthesis Different branches of knowledge were integrated. Streams of Enlightenment, Secularism, Rationalism, Romanticism, Positivism, and Dialectical Materialism flowed into the ocean of Idealism. Spengler, Sorokin, and Toynbee. 20th century witnessed the emergence of ‘Three Schools of Thought’ (i) New History, (ii) Total History (iii) Structural History. Different branches of knowledge were integrated.

Emergence of Democracy In democratic approach, people became the centre; they became the deciding agents. Administrators began to give various welfare measures. Objective hist. is the one that should give due importance to common men. ‘Subaltern studies’ concept was introduced by Ranajit Guha.