1. “The past is in our present, but the future is still in our hands..”
What is History?
“The past is in our present, but the future is still in our hands..”
Elie Wiesel

2. 5 “W's“and 1 ‘H”: who, what, when , where and why...
..A personal "thought" experiment: How would you tell the "history" of your life?
5 “W's“and 1 ‘H”: who, what, when , where and why...
Unique and intersecting
Factual and "mythical“

3. ..Who: deals with the people who shaped events..
analytical history
history is about us!
Selective
not necessarily fixed

4. ..What: the problem of facts.
definition of fact:
something which can be confirmed by an appeal to our senses.
B. Problems with Facts:
There can be both too many facts and too few, sometimes both of these can be true about the same event.
records can also be discontinuous....
Issue of relevance: need for selectivity again..

5. ..What: the need for interpretation.
A. facts don't speak for themselves
B. even when we choose facts makes a difference
C. effect of "frame of reference" on fact selection.
problem of bias
Definition of interpretation

6. ..When? time in historical narrative.
change or changelessness ,
historians must offer explanations which unwind through time, and often following a logic which can only be explained by reference to the order of contingent events.
History never repeats itself, not really
The error of "presentness": teleology as false friend and distortion..

7. ..Where: the physical stage of history
A. Geography as destiny: too strong a statement, but... (Guns, Drums and Steel)
B. Europe as example:
steppe gradient, oceans and seas , mountains ,
river systems

8. ..Why and How ? cause and effect in history
multifactorial and complex causation...
Revisionism:

9. Finding Meaning
pattern recognition , history and interpretation: the heart of history and explanation.
those who study history are better prepared to deal with the present – the map is not the territory, but it is a helpful guide to it…
Relativism and revision

10. ..Finally: a definition:
A carefully and critically reconstructed memory, this is what history is.