History QuotesRank each on a 110 scale on how much you agree 10 or disagree 1 with them

1
History Quotes-Rank each on a 1-10 scale on how
much you agree (10) or disagree (1) with them

• History An account, mostly false of events
  mostly unimportant, which are brought about by
  rulers, mostly knaves, and soldiers, mostly
  fools Ambrose Bierce
• History abhors determinism but cannot tolerate
  chance-Bernard De Voto
• Who controls the past controls the future, who
  controls the present controls the past-George
  Orwell
• Those who dont study the past are doomed to
  repeat it-George Santayana

2
What if

• What if you awoke and could not remember the past
  at all? Sweet? Problematic? Important?
  Irrelevant?
• Do our micro-memories have any relevance to
  history?
• Is it important to know your past? Why?
• If you were to write a diary how do you decide
  what to include what to ignore?
• Which is a better source, an Biography written by
  a historian or an Autobiography?
• Do people learn from their mistakes? Is that a
  benefit to history? If not, insanity?

3
Is History merely the study of the past (302).

• Evidence-Because we can only know the past to the
  extent that we have evidence of it History can be
  defined as not the study of the past, but the
  study of the present traces of the past (302).
• Problems-1. too little evidence 2. Usually too
  much evidence
• Ex-Write the history of 2009 How would you do
  this?
• Often in the distant past too little evidence
  leads to MISINTERPRETATION of the evidence
• Ex-Picture pg. 302
• Our knowledge of the Greek/Persian Wars are based
  on a single, unreliable source, the Greek
  Historian Herodotus (485-420 BCE)

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Herodotus-Father of History

• The Greek researcher and storyteller Herodotus of
  Halicarnassus (fifth century BCE) was the world's
  first historian.
• In The Histories, (the worlds first history
  book he describes the expansion of the
  Achaemenid empire under its kings Cyrus the
  Great, Cambyses and Darius I the Great,
  culminating in king Xerxes' expedition in 480 BCE
  against the Greeks. It also contains descriptions
  of the peoples that the Persians have conquered,
  fairy tales, gossip, legends, and a very
  humanitarian morale.
• We know little about the Father of History. Yet,
  there are only a few ancient writers that we know
  as well as Herodotus.
• Herodotus of Halicarnassus hereby publishes the
  results of his inquiries, hoping to do two
  things to preserve the memory of the past by
  putting on record the astonishing achievements
  both of the Greek and the non-Greek peoples and
  more particularly, to show how the two races came
  into conflict.

5
Significance

• Usually, problem is not too little evidence but
  too much
• So we make history a record of the past
  SIGNIFICANT events
• Rank 1-7 the following in order of significance
• a. Bill Clinton is caught having an affair with
  Monica Lewinski
• b. Sumner School District establishes IB
  Programme
• c. Russia invades Georgia, 108 people killed
• d. Britney Spears shaves her head
• e. Todays ToK class
• f. President signs Bail Out legislation into
  affect
• g. Seahawks lose 4th game in a row, Matt
  Hasslebeck hurt again
• Must First Establish Criteria, Right?
• Could one become more significant in the future?
  Less? Which is most important to you right now?
• So, the THREE IMPORTANT FEATURES of HISTORY are
  not only Evidence and Significance, but also
  Explaining and Understanding it as well.

6
Why study that Crap?

• Is explaining why as important as what?
  Should History be about explaining why or just
  tell the what?
• Henry Ford (1863-1847) characterized history as
  more or less bunk. Is it old news that has
  nothing to do with today?
• Justifications
• 1. It gives us identity-How?
• 2. It is a defense against propaganda-How?
• 3. Enriches understanding of Human Nature-How?
• Claim-the study of Northern Hemisphere history
  is a mandatory IB subject. Arguments for?
  Against?

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3 Justifications

• 1-Sense of identity-Is a country like a person?
  Memento clip for a country?
• Box 305
• 2-Defense against propaganda-
• Stalin and Trotsky picture (pg. 305)
• Chief Seattle Quote pg. 306
• George Orwell He controls the past controls the
  future. Is this true?
• 3-History enriching understanding of Human
  Nature
• What does History show about humanity?
• Immanuel Kant Quote 307
• Can history create Self Realizing Expectations?
  War inevitable? Economic depression? Races cannot
  coexist? Climate beyond our control? Greed rules
  all?

8
So, how can the past be known?

• Only through our senses? If based on perception
  then, nothing is reliable?
• Opposite view Skeptic who argues that since past
  no longer exists, it cant be changed so it is
  completely objective.
• G.R. Elton (1921-1994)-In a very real sense the
  study of history is concerned with a subject
  matter more objective and independent than that
  of the natural sciences. Just because historical
  matter is in the past, is goneits objective
  reality is guaranteed it is beyond being altered
  for any purpose whatsoever
• Samuel Butler (1835-1902)-Though God cannot
  alter the past, historians can
• Which is more true?

9
Ways to Know the Past

• Primary and Secondary Sources
• How do primary sources become affected/infected
  by 4 Ways of Knowing?
• Fallible Eyewitnesses-Write an account of last
  Fridays game.
• 1 Social Bias-Was medieval Europe a religious
  place? Describe the culture of Sumer High
  School. What would your put in a historical time
  capsule to be opened 500 years from now to give
  people an accurate perspective of the times?

10
Primary vs. Secondary Sources Cont

• Deliberate Manipulation-Where government (or
  other organization) deliberately change the
  facts of history to align with their agenda.
  (Trotsky Example)
• If the Nazis had won the war, would history be
  different (i.e is history written by the
  victors)?
• List Advantages Disadvantages of both. Which
  is better? Explain why.

11
Writing History

• How does one start? How does one choose where to
  begin?
• Isnt history a selection of a selection?-How?
  (think about primary sources)
• What are advantages of Hindsight? What seemed
  insignificant can become?
• Would WWI still be called the war to end all
  wars? Are we currently beginning a Great
  Depression? Did people know they were becoming
  enlightened during The Age of Enlightenment or
  that they were becoming Romantic during The
  Romantic Period?
• What Age are we in now? Did I grow up in the
  Saved by the Bell generation?
• What will the war in Iraq/terrorism be Called?

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Disadvantages of Hindsight

• When you look back at the past, is it possible to
  see that they could have happened a multitude of
  other ways, or do we seem to get locked in on the
  idea that that was the only way that thing could
  have happened?
• 2 Hindsight Bias
• WMD for example. Still invade Iraq?
  Recessioneveryone knew it was gonna happen
  right? 1st Black President-Fo Shizzle in 2008
  right?
• So, hindsight is a and for historians.
  side allows them to understand and quantify
  significance of events, on the side, it can
  lead to arrogance and misunderstanding about how
  why an event happened and its inevitability.

13
The Problem of Bias

• 3 Bias-3 types applicable to history
• -Topic Choice- A historians selections
• may be influenced by his interests or
  preoccupations-(though choices may biased, that
  does not necessarily mean treatment of topic has
  to be)
• -Confirmation- A historian might only seek
  evidence that supports his understanding and
  explanation of history-(like Nat Science, a
  good historian is likely to actively seek out
  refutations and address them)
• -National- (i.e. a German finding excuses for
  the holocaust or an American emotionally coloring
  and rationalizing Hiroshima)
• Will there ever be a Universal history book
  that all countries agree on? Is that possible?-

14
Pluralistic Approach

• Is it possible to be unbiased?
• No easy solution to biases. So
• Cubist History

15
Theories of History

• Box pg. 315-Describing AND Explaining-Is it
  possible to isolate a cause?
• Example-Some Historians have argued the history
  of civilizations depends on geographical factors
  (access to seas, good harbors, climate vs.
  landlocked, mountainous, cold area). Is true?
  Fo Sho?
• Great Person Theory of History-The course of
  history is mainly determined by great
  individuals (316).
• Box on 316
• Collingwood Focus on Empathy in History
• Is it possible to empathize with Hitler, Stalin,
  Genghis Kahn, Alexander the Great?
• Question 3 Box 317

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Economic Determinism Theory

• Contrast to Great Person Theory
• Karl Marx
• Operate with Iron Necessity
• Future can be predicted
• It is not great individuals, but _____ and _____
  factors that are the engines of change (318).
• Box 318
• Very Deterministic view
• Marxs own prediction have not come true

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Role of Chance

• What if Cleopatra had been an
• Ugly woman? Would history be different? What if
  Hitler had become an artist?
• What if Kerry or Gore won the presidency in 2000
  or 2004? What if one of the 15 assassination
  attempts on Hitler had worked? What if?
• Does it make any sense to try to make sense of
  history or is it all governed by chance?
• Is History about the what, why, or both?
• Is the aim of the historian, like that of the
  artist, to enlarge our picture of the world, to
  give us a NEW way of looking at things or is it
  true that the only thing we learn from history
  is that we learn nothing from history?