Lesson 1.

1: Nature, Types, and Relevance of History

Lesson Summary
This lesson focuses on the understanding of the nature of history and its meaning and
relevance. Added topics discussed in this lesson are the different types of history that are
based on the forms of practicing history and how history is written.

Learning Outcomes
At the end of this lesson, you are expected to:
1. Explain the meaning and relevance of studying history.
2. Determine the different types of history and their focus on the study.
3. Respond to the challenge of historical revisionism through articulating the uses and
importance of studying history.

Motivation Question
Imagine looking at a photo of your former love.
You wonder why it’s over, what went
wrong, what could you have done better, and
how have you been so far. On a personal scale,
all these questions you ask are similar to
studying history.
Now, what is history, and why is it
relevant?
How does history give meaning to the
present if it speaks about the past?

Discussion

Meaning and Relevance of History

To speak of history, the first thing that comes to our minds is about the events in the
past. There is no other way to define history but to talk about the past. However, with history, it
is not just about talking about the events in the past. There is more in history that we can get
from, because if we only look at history as events in the past, somehow there is nothing special
to it. Considering that we spend so much time talking about the past, then there must be
something that we can learn from it. If you can imagine, we started learning about history in
elementary, high school, and then in college. Within the course of our educational years, all
things mentioned about Philippine history are just the same. With this realization, the
Commission on Higher Education made some changes to the approaches and strategies of
studying history,specifically Philippine history. The purpose is to create a shift from learning to
the plain narrative to learning by exposing the students to the primary and secondary sources,
allowing the students to be critical and analytical in dealing with the sources and expose them
to the different facets of Philippine history through the lens of eyewitnesses (CHED, 2017).
We can define history as everything that has happened in the past or an account of the
past. According to James Davidson and Mark Lytle (1982), “History is not what happened in the
past; rather, it is the act of selecting, analyzing, and writing about the past…” From here, we can
then say that there is more to history than just the plain narratives. To study history, one has to
be critical and analyze if everything that was written, primary or secondary, is factual or not, and
is not biased. Thus, history, therefore, is about the past and the study of the past. Let us take
this scenario, one night, you and your friend are walking towards the town plaza. Suddenly, a
power outage came, so everything went dark. Your friend happened to bring his flashlight. As
you continued walking, you passed by an abandoned building your friend was familiar with.
Thus, you keep asking questions about its background. Your friend did not hesitate to share
information about the building by pointing some of its portions using his flashlight. In this
situation, everything in the dark landscape is the wholehistory, while your friend holding the
flashlight is the historian. This analogy gives us an idea of the nature of history. It is vast,
causing the historian to only speak of the portions of the total past. Hence, it is imperfect, for
none can present the past as it was. Like in the previous
situation, we can only see what is illuminated by
your friend.

Figure 1Representation of the nature of history

 On the part of the historian, the selected happenings are not only narrated but are also
analyzed. The result of this analysis is an interpretation. The interpretation becomes a creation
based on the events that took place in the past. Sometimes, this could lead us into thinking, is
history an act of creation or an act of recreation? If we say that it is an act of creation, it is
based on an individualistic perspective. With individualism,certain factors may have affected or
influenced the writer’s views. These views wouldcreate history out of history. That is why, in the
old practice, students were only exposed to reading secondary source materials. What about
recreating history? To recreate history means to give new life and meaning to the forgotten
past. This recreation is one way of innovative interpretation to allow the new generation to
engage in discovering the meaning and significance of the past. With this time of age,
technology has given much influence. Thus, one of the goals of the 21st Century education is to
adopt the approaches and strategies of learning into the digital world. It is always in the hope of
historians that museums will soon be digitally interactive. In the classroom settings, there
would at least have easy access to the digitized primary and secondary sources.
In the context of the Philippines, this may be too ideal considering the kind of technology
that we have.Nonetheless, historians are hopeful enough that in time, this will soon be realized.
Another nature of history that we can consider is that it studies the present in light of the past
(Pallavi, Jyotrimayee, & Harichandan, 2019). Historians always rely on the surviving records.
That is the primary way that they get a view of the past and reflect on it. Reflection on the
documents is a way of learning by inquiry. Again, what we know about certain events in the past
are just portions of the whole. If a specific event catches your interest, you will always have to
refer to the surviving records. Where do you go to retrieve such records? There are a lot of
options for places to visit and retrieve the information you need, which will be discussed in
locating sources of history (Lesson 2).

Types of History

Historian’s reliability on the surviving records implies their infallibility. That means that
they are prone to committing errors. No matter how they try not to be biased on their analysis
and interpretation, there is still that tendency to be so. Despite the idiosyncrasies, there are two
theories or types of history that we can consider. These are Factual history and Speculative
history. Before we connect factual and speculative to history, let us first understand the terms
literally. “Factual” means that it is something that can be proven or has already been proven by
some means. But when we say “speculative,” that means it is something that can be viewed
from a different theoretical perspective or lens. When we say factual history, it is to show proof
and validity. It tries to analyze by answering the 3Wh questions: What, Who, and When. The
“what” will identify specific events in the past. There are many events in history that we can cite.
“Who” allows the historian to get to know the persons involved in the event. The involvement of
the personages also needs to be considered for others may just have no significance. For
instance, there are many persons involved in the Cry of Balintawak, but history only mentions
those people who have a significant role in the said gathering. Another is that of Tirad pass,
where Gregorio del Pilar is the highlight, and the other Filipino troops who fought the Americans
were not given much recognition. The third question on factual history is “when.” Stating and
determining the time and date of a particular historical event will add accuracy and reliability.
The second type of history is called speculative history. This type of history answers the
questions “why” and “how.” This is a kind of inquiry that uses counterfactual speculation of
historical events to reflect our present society and the social construct of memory (Lima-de-
Oliveira & Fux, 2014). Mostly, those who already have a background in history would always
have questions in mind aboutparticularaccounts. In Philippine history, for example, many events
have a questionable history. There is also the challenge of historical revisionism. Revisionism
could not be avoided because historians are justified in viewing an event from any perspective
they wish. This is very timely that CHED now is introducing a new way of understanding history
for the students to become more engaged and more critical about the past.
A German philosopher by the name of Friedrich Nietzsche has also identified three types
of history: Monumental History, Antiquarian History, and Critical History. These three are forms
of practicing history, which is advantageous to human life. According to him, “life is the pinnacle
of human existence, and it is exemplified by the will and the ability to create.” (McKinley,
2014).This type of history is very common to those people who have made significant
achievements and contributions to society, especially to the country. This type of recognizing
the great works of men and women is what Nietzsche called monumental history. He was able
to formulate such practice of history for the fact that humans have, along with their knowledge
of pre and post existence, is the experience of life itself. This means that humans should not
make an unhistorical living. The way to make the experience of a great life is to leave something
for your memory to last forever. In the Philippines, this is very common to great men and
women who fought for the betterment of the country. To name a few, we have Andres Bonifacio,
Jose Rizal, Gregorio del Pilar, Antonio Luna, Gabriela Silang and Diego Silang, and many others.
Nietzsche classifies heroes as either Victorian or modern-day heroes. The names mentioned
above are examples of Victorian heroes. The modern-day heroes do not necessarily engage in
wars and battles;instead, their contribution has made great significance to the country.
The second type of history, according to Nietzsche, is Antiquarian history. Antiquarian
history gives reverence to the past, like the saving of the old buildings. The National Historical
Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) is the one responsible for determining and declaring
structures as national heritage. The purpose of this antiquarian history is to preserve the past
for current and future admiration.This purpose is very challenging for the part of the Filipinos
because we still have not practiced this culture of preserving our heritage. We always have this
tendency to renovate the old structure to make it new and adaptive to the latest trends.
However, the problem with antiquarian history is that there is a tendency to become stuck in the
past. There are only a few places in the places that hold and keep their cultural heritage like
Vigan City, Carcar City, Baguio, and Mountain Province.
The last type or way of practicing history is a critical history. This type of history selects
the best from the past to create and build a better future. In this way, the critical historian judges
interrogate and ultimately condemns the past. It is where we try to look and analyze the stories
told about that past and sift those events that are worthy of continuation in the present
(Halveron, 2015).It is also what CHED is trying to address by allowing the students to immerse
themselves in the different primary and secondary sources. They will have the opportunity to
make their evaluation and formulate criticisms on the various primary and secondary sources.

The Uses of History

After you have been introduced to the meaning and relevance of history and its different
types, we should probably already have an understanding of its uses. Itmay sound boring and
disinteresting, for we have already been introduced to the many histories of the Philippines.
Despite that, let us try to identify some of the uses of history, why we still have to give
importance to it.
History can be influential and shaping human affairs
 Humanity revolves around history. It is only in history that we get to know how people
and societies behave. For instance, Filipinos would not have an understanding of their own
identity without referring to the kind of living to the early ancestors. Filipinos would not have
developed patriotism and nationalism without looking at how the first Filipinos fought for their
rights and gain liberty from the colonizers. Developing such character is not something done
through experimentation and observation that can be studied by pure sciences. Other
significant aspects of mass relations also are caused by the influence of history. Examples of
this are national and local elections, military tactics and alliances, religious missionaries and
their activities, and many others(Stearns, 1998). All these are just a few of the many things to
prove how history is influential in shaping human affairs. While it is true that the study of history
is not perfect, but at least it has many things to say about the past of human civilization.
History provides informed perspectives about the world
History offers people an understanding of change, especially in getting an understanding
of how society came to be. The past events on human affairs caused the evolution of the
present and will eventually continue to change in the future. We are always caught up with
questions on how and why events happened: pain, sufferings, and abuses experienced by the
Filipinos during the colonization; the impact of American occupation in the Philippines; the
challenge of patriotism and nationalism that the Filipinos faced the rise of the different political
parties; and many others. Each country has its history, and through these histories, we are
exposed to the different perspectives of the world. From these varied perspectives, we begin to
comprehend the factors that shaped man’s quest for development and progress.
History is a guide on making judgments
This is always the challenge in contemporary times. With the rise of revisionism, not just
students of history are confused as to which sources of history introduce factual and reliable
information. With these new approaches and strategies in studying history students will develop
their skill in assessing pieces of evidence. They will start to learn how to analyze and interpret
one evidence from the other to be able to reach a better judgment. Exposing the students to the
primary and secondary sources will improve their analytical skills by analyzing their content and
context. Thus, they will be able to critically determine which source is objectively done and
which are biased. With the sources readily available, history indeed is a guide on making
judgments.
History provides a better understanding of the present situation
We are all familiar with the line, “History repeats itself,” do you agree on this? What is
your take on this statement? Some people would interpret this as true because what happened
in the past, has occurred in the present. For instance, the pandemic that the world is fighting
now is the same situation that the world faced in the year 1918. The Spanish flu pandemic cost
millions of lives around the world, the Corona Virus – COVID19 does the same. The ousting of
the former president Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 echoed in 2001 during the presidency of Joseph
Estrada. With these two events empowered the women to take over the presidency, Cory Aquino
became the President after Marcos and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo after Estrada. There are many
events in the past that somehow repeated in the present. Some others would disagree on the
statement. For others, it is not history that is repeating itself for history does not have the
reason to do so. The reason for the events in the past to reoccur is of man’s inability to realize
and learn the lessons of those events. Thus, it is man repeating the events in history. Man is the
one in control of the events in the present. Man does not have the right to blame the events in
the past for the wrong that he has done in the present and to the future. Rather, the man should
reflect on the events in the past to do better in the present, and do his best in the future.
 There are many uses of studying history. Ionly mentioneda few of its many uses. From
the things mentioned above we can conclude that history involves the study of individual
interpretations or versions of the past that is unsettling. Indeed, history is not the lifeless study
of the past. This is not just about memorizing significant events in the past. We all have this
thinking for this is what we experienced before when we were in elementary and high school.
Learning how historians and the students of history think and sharpening analytical and
communication skills are essentials for success in college and professional life. Lastly, the
methods of history are not especially complicated and confusing but still doing history is not
altogether easy. (Cunal & Salevouris, 2015)

Learning Tasks/Activities
1. Look at the uses of history. Cite personal events in your life which you can relate to the
uses of history.
2. List down topics or areas in history that you find interesting and articulate why does the
said topic spark your interest. (e.g. Filipino food history, Filipino art history)
3. Look for facts that have been changed in Philippine history. Would you consider this as
part of historical revisionism? Why?

Assessment
I. Instruction: Write TRUE if the statement is True, and FALSE if otherwise.
1. Antiquarian History studies the artifacts found by archaeologists.
2. History is a guide to making judgments.
3. Speculative history answers the questions of who, what, and when.
4. A monumental History is an event in the past that highlights the heroic deeds of the
heroes.
5. Factual History answers the questions of why and how.

II. Explain briefly.

1. Explain the meaning and relevance of history. Relate a portion of your explanation to
personal circumstances.
2. Differentiate factual history from speculative history.
3. Explain Nietzsche’s forms of practicing history: Monumental, Antiquarian, and Critical
History

Instructions on how to submit student output

For type-written documents, write the answers only on an 8.5”x 11” bond paper 1inch
marginsall sides, single line spacing, with a font style of Times New Roman at size 12. The
student should write their name, class schedule, subject, course instructor, and lesson number
as the header of the document.
For handwritten documents, you still have to follow the parameters above for the paper size,
margins, and header. Your penmanship must be legible and just the right size.

For online submission, you may send the document (in .pdf format) to the email address of the
instructor on the last weekday of the first week of September 2020.

For offline submissions, you may send the

hardcopy of the document in a bundle with the other
required documents for Module 1, in the third week
of September 2020. You may place it in a sealed
brown envelope with your name, student
number, subject, class schedule, and the course
instructor. Send the bundled documents to
the Department of Liberal Arts and Behavioral
Sciences, Visayas State University, Baybay City,
6521-A.