RPH PRELIM REVIEWER

HISTORY
● one of the oldest disciplines in the world, has been known as the study of the past.
● Derived from the Greek word “historia” which means “knowledge acquired through inquiry or
investigation.
● In Latin, “historia” became known as the account of the past of a person or a group of people
through written documents and historical evidences.

THE PAST
● Everything that has happened from the beginning of time until the present.

HISTORY
● An explanation of the past.

[“THE PAST” is completed and can never be changed while “HISTORY” is an ongoing discussion of
trying to explain the past and is open to change or revision.]

[History is a discipline that can be defined and viewed in various ways. If taken in the context of the
states of matter, History is liquid. It takes the shape of the minds where it is poured]

HISTORY IS A SCIENCE

● It pursues its own techniques to establish and interpret facts.

● It uses the scientific method of inquiry.
● Scientific and historical methods are systematic, sequential, logical, and progress in clearly defined
steps.

HISTORY IS AN ART

● It is literary and artistic in its presentation.

● It has the ability to conclude or deduce lost pieces of history to establish a historical fact or event.

HISTORIOGRAPHY

● In studying and writing history, it is crucial to emphasize that there is no single historical
narrative in the same way that such a task entails the development of a critical historical
inquiry. In that sense, recognizing various approaches to answering historical questions in
necessary.

ELEMENTS OF HISTORY

● The Historian. This refers to the person writing the history.

● Place. The location where the history was written
● Period. Refers to the context of the time when the history was written.
● Sources. Refer to the basis of claims or analysis of the historian such as documents, written or oral
accounts.

HISTORICAL AWARENESS (HISTORICISM) VS. SOCIAL MEMORY

 ● Historical awareness is a “universal psychological attribute” arising from our innate desire to
explain the origin of present circumstances and represents our personal understanding of the past.

TWO MODES OF PERCEPTION

SOCIAL MEMORY

● As defined, it is how society remembers its past. Nevertheless, being well-versed in this type of
knowledge is never tantamount to historical awareness. The formation of popular historical
knowledge necessitates biased treatment of the remains of the past.

HISTORICAL AWARENESS

● requires an individual to judge and interpret the past based on its respective standards;
acquire a strong sense of zeitgeist and historical process recognition; avoid exercising
anachronism, and develop skill pertaining to contextual analysis.

HISTORICSM - a methodical and analytical approach to observing history “as it is.”

[HISTORICISM is concerned with accuracy as the greatest good while SOCIAL MEMORY tends to
distort the old times in order to justify present designs.]

PROPAGANDA AND HISTORICAL REVISIONISM

History has a relatively significant feature: the potentiality of being an art or science. Emphasizing its ability
to take the form of science is somehow problematic. Although its inquiries focus on extricating the
truth, its pieces of evidence are based on the narrative accounts of the past. In addition, is the fact
that historians deciphering the past sometimes fail to administer absolute impartiality on given primary
sources.

In context, in order to justify and reinforce the declaration of martial, Marcos exploited the myths of
nationalism, imperialism, betrayal, and historical fulfillment – it is propaganda.

PROPAGANDA

● Propaganda is the dissemination of information—facts, arguments, rumors, half-truths, or

lies—to influence public opinion. It is a mode of communication that is used to manipulate or
influence the opinion of groups to support a cause or belief.
HISTORICAL REVISIONISM

● Historical revisionism pertains to the manipulation of certain historical events mainly for
political events. Revisionist historiography is ―immune to evidence. It generally abandons the
application of scientific methods and confuses the borderline between legitimate evidence and
fiction in the process of interpreting history.

HISTORICAL REVISIONISM VS HISTORICAL DISTORTION

● According to Barbara Krasner, historical revisionism is the reinterpretation of a historical

account or narrative based on actual facts and aforementioned evidence.

● While according to Professor Cristina Cristobal, historical distortion occurs when historical
accounts or narratives are changed to suit a personal agenda. It involves disinformation and
lies to change history.

HISTORY OBJECTIVITY

● This element compels historians to process their central question without distorting its results. Here
surfaces the issue of objectivity. In its general sense, the concept of objectivity guides
historians to treat and process their historical data to the highest extent of impartiality.

USES OF HISTORY IN OUR LIVES (help understand people and societies and learn from past mistakes)

● Allows you to comprehend the factors that instigated change to the very institution they live in.
● Adds meaning on what it is really like to be a human being as it develops ―beauty and excitement
and provides contexts of human societies in the past.
● Develops the essence of moral understanding, as you are given the opportunity to test their moral
sense against the narratives of the past.
● Provides you identity as the discipline inculcates among the students the ―distinctive features of
national experience “honing their understanding of national values and loyalty”
● Lays the foundation of ―genuine citizenship.
● Encourages you to develop, as previously discussed, the habits of mind.
● Essentially, the discipline cultivates among you the skill to:
- Assess historical data and formulate arguments based on it.
- Determine conflicting interpretations of historical data.
- Identify the dramatic changes brought by the continuity of time.

ATTRIBUTES OF HISTORIANS AND STUDENTS OF HISTORY

Historians and Students of History should possess the following specific qualities:

● Analytical skills
● Communication skills
● Problem-solving skills
● Research skills
● Writing skills

HISTORICAL SOURCES
 ● Objects from the past or testimony concerning the past on which historians depend in order
to create their own depiction of the past.

PRIMARY HISTORICAL SOURCES

● The primary source is any materials or objects; photographed, recorded, or written, the object
itself made or present during the exact period of a historical event. The author or the source of the
specific material is a primary witness to the event.

● These are sources that are intentionally preserved or recorded for the sake of the future
generation. It includes memoirs and epitaphs on tombstones.

EXAMPLES: ( jose rizal’s Diaros y memorias and epistoralio rizalino)

● Diaries and journals (eg. The Diary of a Young Girl from Anne Frank)
● Autobiography
● Letters
● Legislation
● Newspaper articles
● Interviews, government documents, reports and photographs
● Literature and other creative outputs

SECONDARY HISTORICAL SOURCES

● A secondary source is something written about a primary source. It is written “after the fact”
– that is, at a later dates.

● These are any printed or motion picture materials that are created using primary sources.
The information is supplied by a person who is not a direct observer or participant of the
event, object, or condition.

EXAMPLES:

These include researches, textbooks, journals, commentaries, biographies, and criticisms or reviews of
literary and creative works.

TERTIARY SOURCES

● Sources that compile data on a particular topic. These are collections of primary and/or
secondary sources which have little to no commentary on the works themselves, but
discovery is based on various research stages.

EXAMPLES:
● Database
● Library Catalogs
● Encyclopedia
● Indexes
● Abstracts

[There are two broad divisions of historical sources: documents and relics. The first division includes
the reports of the past events as perceived by the human brain. It aims to transmit information. On the
other hand, the second division includes physical objects and written materials of historical value
that were produced without the aim to impart information.]

REPOSITORIES OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SOURCES

● NATIONAL LIBRARY OF THE PHILIPPINES

● NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF THE PHILIPPINES

HISTORICAL CRITICISM

● The historian’s role in writing history, to reiterate, is to provide meanings to facts that he
gathered from primary sources (facts from manuscripts, documents) or those that have been
gathered by archaeologists or anthropologists (artifacts).
● The terms external and internal criticism ―refer to the purpose or objective of criticism and
not method or procedure in dealing with the sources. Sometimes the terms are lower and
higher criticisms.

EXTERNAL CRITICISM

● Is the process of knowing the AUTHENTICITY of the evidence by examining its ―physical
characteristics, consistency with the historical characteristic of the time when it was
produced, and the materials used for evidence.

METHODS IN EXAMINING A PRIMARY SOURCE

● Radio Carbon Dating

● DNA Technology
● Paleography
● Cryptography
● Numismatics
● Linguistics
INTERNAL CRITICISM

● This process focuses on the credibility, validity, and worth of the material’s contents.
Historians employ this by ―looking at the source of the author, its context, the agenda
behind its creation, the knowledge which informed it, and its intended purpose.

EXTERNAL CRITICISM
- examines the authenticity of the document or the evidence being used while.
INTERNAL CRITICISM
- examines the truthfulness of the content of the evidence.

CONTEXT AND CONTENT ANALYSIS OF PRIMARY SOURCES

● The context, in perspective, is how society defines a situation of interaction. It is a shared

meaning that provides ―an underlying orientation for subsequent action. To determine the
material‘s context, historians apply contextualization. It is a careful and critical placing of a
primary source on its historical context.
 ● Meanwhile, content, refers to the central idea circulating the primary source. In this aspect,
historians evaluate and analyze the material‘s contents to determine its accuracy. Likewise,
the author‘s competence, good faith, bias, and general reputation is subject for the
historians‘ scrutiny.

CONTEXT AND CONTENT ANALYSIS

● CONTEXT answers the question is the source credible?
● CONTENT answers the question is the information truthful or logical?

The Material’s Point of View

- First phrase: Audience and Purpose
Audience - who are the intended audience
Purpose - why did the writer created the source

- Second phrase: finding clues

Supporting Evidence Presented - did the writer use reliable or biased sources?
Vocabulary Choice - is the source loaded with inflammatory terms?

P.A.P.E.R.

P- Purpose
A - Argument
P - Presuppositions
E - Epistemology
R - Relate