Since the beginning of human civilization, mankind has always sought to improve our way of life. The social sciences including psychology, anthropology and economics seek to discover why we act the way that we do, and in doing so, aim to change our society for the better.Historians map out the pattern of human events and try to understand why historical events occurred the way that they did. As a result, it seems as if the human sciences and history are closely linked to each other. Historians often work alongside human scientists in order to understand our societies, and in doing so, change our communities in order to suit our nature better. Human sciences tries to uncover the mystery of human nature and with our newfound knowledge, get a better idea of how we can adapt our society to our nature. Similarly, historians seek to uncover the past and mark the pattern of humanity’s events in an attempt to learn from our past mistakes and in doing so, adapt our society to the future.
A famous quotation which states that “History repeats itself”, implies that humanity is destined to repeat a similar, if not the same, pattern of events for as long as we exist. One notable example is Napoleon Bonaparte’s failure to invade Russia in 1812 during his conquest for Europe; in 1941 at the peak of the Nazi regime during the Second World War, Adolf Hitler’s attempted invasion of Russia failed as well. Both of these incidents resulted in the fall of their empires and caused them to lose their respective wars. These events clearly demonstrate that Hitler never learned from Napoleon’s mistake and as a result, the same series of events followed during Operation Barbarossa (the codename for the invasion of Russia during World War II).
History is def...
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... which studies the past only for the purpose of discovering more about our nature. Historical bias is an issue due to sources coming from various cultures and backgrounds and sometimes even different time periods, which may result in different opinionated response and interpretations. As well, it is noted that the human sciences are directed towards the study of human nature, often requiring the performance of human experiments that can be highly subjective due to their uncontrollable nature. This can sometimes result in the manipulation of data or information in order to suit the hypothesis better, a scenario parallel to bias within historical data. To conclude, both areas of knowledge seek to improve our society for the better in their own ways; whether it beactively through new psychological research, or through the evidence and conclusions drawn by historians.
The study of past events have been a common practice of mankind since the verbal telling of stories by our ancestors. William Cronon, in his article “Why the Past Matters,” asserts that the remembrance of the past “keeps us in place.” Our individual memories and experiences shape how we act in our daily lives. In addition to influencing us at an individual level, our collective history binds us together as a society. Without knowing where we have been or what we have experienced, it is nearly impossible to judge progress or know which courses of action to pursue. The goal of the historian is to analyze and explain past events, of which they rarely have firsthand memory of, and apply the gained knowledge to make connections with current and future events.
...an extremely difficult concept to grasp. However, history must always be remembered correctly. Otherwise, as Geoffrey Keynes stated, “history will repeat itself”.
A beginning group of historians to take a closer look at is the empiricists. The empiricists have a very strictly factual and logical view on history and how to examine it. They believe that past is both “observable and verifiable” and that through adherence to three strict principles, the past can be represented objectively and accurately. (Green, Troup 3) The three aforementioned principles can be summed up as: meticulously examining historical evidence and verifying the evidence with references, making sure the research is completely impartial and free of biases and prejudices, and using an inductive, or observational, method of reasoning. (Green, Troup 3) The empiricists seek to find universal historical truths through objective research and sticking to the facts.
Perhaps the most famous example of history repeating itself is Hitler 's disastrous campaign in Russia. This event closely mirrored Napoleon 's failure on the same Eastern front in many ways. The most obvious is the fact that the Russians used almost the exact same tactics to win both times. They allowed their enemies to march forward into their homeland almost effortlessly, but while they were retreating they also burned and destroyed anything that could be used by their opposition. By the time Napoleon, and later Hitler, realized this, it was too late as the Russian winter had already set in. This led to both Hitler and Napoleon facing devastating losses as their both their armies were carrying mainly light supplies and thus were not prepared
History. What is history? History is not just a complete story from the perspective of a man nor women. But it is a replica that tells the story of our communities, cities, countries, and the world. History by definition is the account of change over a period of time. For centuries, people have altered the environment in order to meet their needs. The effect of these changes have brought upon both positive and negative effects on the environment, societies, and regions. Some include the development of irrigation in ancient Egypt, the construction of chinampas by the Aztecs, and the mining of coal in Great Britain. Throughout time, many of the ancient civilizations have gone through inconvenient setbacks while trying to complete their goal. Nevertheless,
To start with anthropology, and outlining the timelines of mankind, one can start cumulating the facts around how humans have evolved throughout hundreds and thousands of years. Using anthropology as a theory of history is the ability to understand the social and cultural behaviors that connect the concept of human culture. As historians there are many benefits from using anthropology, studying the behaviors of human kind and all of its variations is a true...
“Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.” This famous quote from Edmund Burke is one that many of us are familiar with. In spite of this, many people disregard history, branding it as unimportant or irrelevant to modern-day situations. However, history is actually a quite important subject with a myriad of lessons to be learned for anybody to apply now and in the future. Additionally, history gives us much needed information about our past, keeping us from forgetting why our nations became the way they are. It allows us to draw parallels between modern events and past events to collect our best judgment and gives us the important knowledge of the origin of our modern world, giving extra credibility
History is a story told over time. It is a way of recreating the past so it can be studied in the present and re-interpreted for future generations. Since humans are the sole beneficiaries of history, it is important for us to know what the purpose of history is and how historians include their own perspective concerning historical events. The purpose and perspective of history is vital in order for individuals to realise how it would be almost impossible for us to live out our lives effectively if we had no knowledge of the past. Also, in order to gain a sound knowledge of the past, we have to understand the political, social and cultural aspects of the times we are studying.
The language in this knowledge claim allows for multiple interpretations. Hence, we will assume that the past refers to both the distant and recent past, and that the phrase “change the future” includes further developing the AoK of human science's ability to predict ways to change the future. To check the validity of the knowledge claim, we will look at both the AoK history and the AoK human sciences in relation to the past and future respectively.
Historians use sources and knowledge to piece together the history of the human existence while Human scientist study the human behavior as well as the lifestyle we live in. They indeed focus on these areas and provide information to each other. However, a historian will also look to the future and foretell using his or her knowledge of the past. In the same way, a human scientist might look at human behavior today and compare it with the past. For when we look at human science, historians find it as useful term for science with the word ‘human’ as the subject (Smith). This opens the possibilities for the historian to research and thus history can be considered as a ‘Human Science’ (Smith).
Though our history may bring back horrible memories of the ?grimmest dimensions of human nature? (Limerick 472), it is necessary to have a good historical background. History gives us the ability to improve future outputs, satisfy our unending need for knowledge, and understand how many policies and regulations have come to be. Without history mankind would be very primitive and ununified. Our complete molding of the world today is almost completely dependent on the fact that we study our history. Without history present day humans would be nothing more than cavemen.
Science and Technology has been around from the beginning of time. It evolved from the everyday efforts of people trying to improve their way of life. Throughout history, humankind has developed and utilized tools, machines, and techniques without understanding how or why they worked or comprehending their physical or chemical composition. Before we go any further a definition has to be given for both Science and Technology because they are both different in their own right even though the two are almost indistinguishable. According to the Oxford Dictionary Technology can be defined as the knowledge or use of the mechanical arts and applied sciences, while Science can be defined as the branch of knowledge involving systematized observation and experiment. Science can be further divided into three separate categories; Pure, Applied and Natural Sciences. In addition technology is often defined as applied science, it is simply the application of scientific knowledge to achieve a specific human purpose, however, historical evidence suggests technology is a product of science.
History is a body of knowledge that has surrounded not only the events of the past but also their consequences. History is concerned with evidence about human beings who have lived in the society. It’s so concerning with how human lives have changed through time. It’s not only the explanation about the distant past but also that contemporary world. History is concerned with people in the society, their interaction and their relationships with their environment. History had an impact on society because interaction between society and its past is an unending one, the interaction is mutual and continuous. The past exists only in the mind and memories of those in the present. Since history is said to be concerning with people in the society, their
We can use the word history in so many ways and it can have so many meanings and usages. We often find that using the term history without considering the underlying concepts can be troublesome at best. In some instances we use the word history to articulate an actual event that has happened prior to today. We can also say history to show a timeline that includes a group of events or actions. We try to learn from history but often find ourselves repeating the patterns depending on if we have learned anything previous history, sometimes repeating because we did learn effective uses of past history. We want things to be consistent, in our minds we want to repeat those things that went well and avoid the things that did not. So many things are locked in our minds and psychology is our way of unlocking those thoughts and processes from the mind. What makes us who we are is history; it also makes society what it is. Because we have an understanding of our history it will always influence the present.
Our basic objective is to examine the scientific developments through history and how they affect human life and society. To meet that objective we will first develop tools to analyze the relationship between science and the increasingly complex decisions we have to make regarding the way we apply science for human welfare.