Readings in Philippine History

Chapter 1: The Meaning of History, account” ** this explains that

knowledge is derived through
Sources of Historical Data, and conducting a process
Historical Criticisms of scientific investigation of past
events. – Aristotle Theories
Constructed by Historian in
investigating History
Lesson 1: The Meaning of History 1. Factual History
1. HISTORY- derived from the Greek Word
• present the readers the plain and basic
HISTORIA, means “knowledge acquired
information: 3 W (what, when, where
through inquiry/research or investigation or
who), 1H
learning by inquiry”
2. Speculative History
- HISTORIA became known as the account
• goes beyond facts
of the past of person or of a group of
people through written documents and • it concerns about the reason for which
historical evidences. events happened (WHY) and the way
they happened (HOW)
2. HISTORY
- study of past- described in written • Cause and effect of an event.
documents. Historians- individuals who write history
• Referred usually for accounts of Traditional Historian- “no document, no history”
phenomena, especially human affairs in • Unless a written document can prove a
chronological order. certain historical event, then it cannot
• Became an important academic be considered as historical facts.
discipline. Its duty is to write lives of Historiography- practice of historical writing
important individual like monarchs, • History of history
heroes, saints, and nobilities. • Traditional method of doing historical
• Focused on writing about wars, research that focus on gathering of
revolutions, and other important documents.
breakthroughs. • Imaginative reconstruction of the past
• It progressed and opened up to the from the data derived by the historical
possibility of valid historical sources, method
which are not limited to written Verisimilitude- historian’s aim
documents, like government records, • The truth, authenticity, plausibility
chroniclers’ account or personal letters. about a past.
Some are keener on passing their history Historical Method
by word of mouth.
• process of critically examining and
• “History is the record of what one age analyzing the records and survivals of
finds worthy of note in another”- the past.
Burckhardt Historical Analysis
• “History in its Broadest sense, is • important element of historical method.
everything that ever happened” – Henry • Historians:
Johnson o Select the subject to investigate
• “The value and interest of history depend o Collect probable sources of
largely on the degree in which the information of the subject
present is illuminated by the past” -VS.
o Examines the sources
Smith
genuineness, in part of in whole
• “Story of man’s struggle through the
o Extract credible “particulars”/
ages against nature and the elements;
data or facts from the sources or
against wild beasts and the jungle and
part of sources.
some of his own kind who have tried to
keep him down and to exploit him for
their own benefit” – Jawaharal Nehru
• “systematic accounting of a set of natural
phenomena, taking into consideration
the chronological arrangement of the
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Readings in Philippine History
historians once treated as
purest (best source).

3. Social Documents
Lesson 2: Sources of Historical Data
a. Information pertaining to
economic, social political, or
Historical Data- are sourced from artifacts that have judicial significance.
been left by the past. b. Examples: government reports
on municipal accounts, civil
Artifacts- can either be relics or remains, or the
registry records, etc.
testimonies of witnesses to the past
Non-written/unwritten sources
• Can be found where relics of human
happenings can be found 1. Material Evidence
a. Also known as archeological
Relics or Remains
evidence
• Offer researchers a clue about the past. b. One of the most important
• Examples are: a coin, a ruin, a unwritten evidences.
manuscript, a book, a portrait, a stamp, c. Includes artistic creation such as :
a piece of wreckage, a strand of hair, or pottery, jewelry, dwellings, graves,
other archeological or anthropological churches, roads, etc.
remains. 2. Oral evidence
a. Also, an important info for
Testimonies of Witnesses
historians, much are told by the
• Whether oral or written, or may have tales or sagas of ancient peoples
been created to serve as records, such and folk songs or popular rituals
as the record of property exchange, from the pre-modern period of
speeches, and commentaries Philippine History.
b. During the present age, interview is
Historian deals with:
another major form of oral evidence
• The dynamic or genetics (the becoming) Two General Kinds of Historical Sources
• Static (the being)
• Aims at being interpretative (explaining 1. Primary Sources or DIRECT
why and how things happened and a. Are originals, first-hand account of
were interrelated) an event or period usually written or
• Descriptive (telling what happened, made during or close to the event or
when, where, and who took part) period
b. those sources produced at the same
Written Sources of History
time as the event, period, or subject
1. Narrative or literary being studied
a. Are chronicles or tracts c. regarded as the source of best
presented in narrative form. evidence. – because the data came
b. Written to impart a message from the testimony of able eye and
whose motives for their eye witness to past events.
composition vary widely. d. Provides direct or firsthand
c. Example: newspaper article, evidence about an event, object, a
personal narrative: diary, novel person, or a work of art
or film; bibliography e. Examples of Primary or Direct
2. Diplomatic or Judicial sources: Archival documents,
artifacts, memorabilia, letters,
a. Document/record an existing
census, government records,
legal situation or create a new
diaries, journals, newspaper.
one, and it is these kinds of
sources that professional f. Different Kind of Primary Sources
i. Literature or Cultural
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Readings in Philippine History
sources third party about historical events,
1. Novels, plays, poem art and theater reviews
2. Television shows, e. Newspaper or journal articles that
movies, or videos interpret
3. Paintings or Lesson 3: Historical Criticisms
photographs 1. Historical Criticism- examines the origins of
ii. Accounts that describe earliest text to appreciate the underlying
events, people, or ideas circumstances upon which the text came be.
1. Newspapers 2. Goals of Historical Criticism
2. Chronicles or a. To discover the original meaning of
historical accounts the text in its primitive or historical
3. Essays and context and its literal sense or
speeches sensus literalis historicus.
4. Memoirs, diaries, b. To establish a reconstruction of the
journals, and letters historical situation of the author and
5. Philosophical recipients of the text
treatises or 3. AUTHENTICITY- is determined by external
manifestos criticism, whereas
iii. Information about people 4. CREDIBILITY is established by internal
1. Census records criticism.
2. Obituaries 5. Two Types of Historical Criticisms
3. Newspaper articles a. External Criticism – determines the
authenticity of the source.
4. Biographies and
autobiographies i. Refers to genuineness of the
documents a researcher
iv. Finding information about
used in a historical study.
place
ii. Conducts document
1. Maps and atlases
analysis using science
2. Census information
iii. The authenticity of the
3. Statistics
material may be testes in
4. Photographs two ways:
5. City directories 1. By paleography
6. Local libraries or (deciphering and
historical societies dating of historical
v. Finding Information about an manuscripts) 2.
organization Diplomatic
1. Archives (held by Criticisms (critical
libraries, analysis of historical
institutions, or document to
historical societies) understand how the
2. Secondary Sources or INDIRECT document came to
a. Generally, describe, discuss, be, the information
interpret, comment upon, analyze, transmitted.
evaluate, summarize, and process b. Internal Criticisms
primary sources i. determines the historicity
b. Materials made by people long after of the facts contained in the
the events being described had document. It is not
taken place to provide valuable necessary to prove the
interpretations of historical events authenticity of the material
c. Those sources which were produced or document.
by an author who used primary ii. is textual criticism, it
sources to provide material. involves factors such as
d. Examples are: biographies, histories, competence, good faith,
literary criticism, books written by a
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Readings in Philippine History
position, and bias of the
author
iii. it looks at the content of the
document to determine its
authenticity.
iv. It involves determining the
intention of the source of
date
6. Auxiliary science that help in determining
authenticity and genuineness of a document
a. EPIGRAPHY
o The study of inscriptions and
the art of deciphering them
b. Diplomatics
o Science of charters and
diplomas and includes
knowledge of the practices and
of forms used in them
c. Paleography
o Study of writing, which has a
history all of its own
d. Philology
o In all its branches is of greatest
use in determining date and
authenticity
7. Greatest influencer upon study of history
a. Archeology – scientific study of life
and culture of the past, especially
ancient peoples, as far as
excavations of ancient cities, relics,
artifacts, etc..
b. Anthropology- the study of
humans, especially of the variety,
physical and cultural characteristics,
distribution, customs, social
relationships, etc. of humanity
c. Prehistory- is history before
recorded history as learned from
archeology
8. Chemistry and the papermaker’s art may be
able to say and have often said that a given
document written on a wood pulp with a
particular ink, for example, cannot be older
than the definite date when these materials
were first manufactured.

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