What is History?

DUH???!!!! Important people Important dates Important events

But who Decides what is important? Why do we bother learning about them?

What is History?  Important way of thinking about the world  History helps us make sense of the world  History is an academic discipline  It is NOT an easy thing to study

The Ongoing Argument  What are the facts?  Use your judgment  Here comes your viewpoint  Why does the argument go on?  New evidence  Ancient document  New archeological discover  Fresh look  Correct errors  Explain events in a different way

Reading History  Don’t assume that what you’re reading is the final truth  Who wrote this document?  When was it written?  What kinds of evidence does the author use?  Is the evidence reliable?  Is the author trying to promote a particular viewpoint?

Example of a Historical Argument  The Scientific Revolution  Most text books say:  started in Western Europe with a man named Copernicus in the early 1500’s  He proposed the idea that the planets travel around the sun.

How did he get that idea?  Ptolemy had a picture of the universe where the earth was the center.  But…..he couldn’t explain the observed motions of the other planets  He built numerous complications into his theory to make it work.

Copernicus Wins!  He thought that Ptolemy’s account was over complicated.  He argued that things fell in place when everything traveled around the sun….not the earth.  Today….we know Copernicus was right….therefore he is honored as the father of the Scientific Revolution.

But is this the whole story????  Some historians believe Copernicus got his ideas from the work of Muslim scientists.  Muslim scientists preserved ancient texts and when Rome fell, some of these ideas traveled to Western Europe.  Did their ideas inspire Copernicus?  Ibn al-Shatir noted problems in Ptolemy’s theory in the 14 th Century.  Ibn al-Shatir’s mathematical arguments are very close to those used by Copernicus later on.  Historians know that Ibn al-Shatir’s text made their way to Rome.  Whats More…..Copernicus once studies in Rome.

So Who’s Right?  Did Copernicus see Ibn al-Shatir’s work?  If so did he use it in criticizing Ptolemy?  Or did Copernicus just happen to come up with the same ideas?  Copernicus’s writings don’t mention Ibn al- Shatir.  So we lack proof he knew about the Muslim scientists work.

What do we have?  Two facts, plus some logic.  1 st fact: Muslim text closely resemble some of what Copernicus did.  Logical agument: the similarity is not coincidence  2 nd fact: the history of science has many examples of discoveries being made independently by different people.

This is just the way History works:  Sometimes evidence doesn’t allow us to say for sure what happened.  We are left with probabilities  What is more or less likely  When reading History  Look at the evidence  Look at the arguments  Make the best judgment about who is right

So really, What is History?  A study of the past  A way of making sense of the world  An academic discipline  A combination of facts and interpretations of facts  An ongoing argument that changes as new evidence is uncovered.  IT IS ALIVE!!!!!!

HOMEWORK!!!!  Answer the following questions:  Is History just a listing of facts? Why or Why not?  Why might two different historians come up with different versions of the past?  Why are historical interpretations subject to change?  How does the example of Copernicus show why it is important to questions and evaluate the history we read?