The Meaning Of History And Its Importance

What is history? In this paper, we will talk about history and its importance, how it is compared and how historians use it to make us know our past and to understand our present and vice versa. Likewise, we will realize how history is a very useful tool for other sciences, for example, for astronomy, physics, chemistry, even religion, since it allows us to know important events or events that impact our present. We will also discuss what is history now? And an author whom we will be referring to is named Edward Hallett Carr who was a historian from the 1961 era, he defends a different story from the traditional narratives. Carr supported the idea that history was taught in higher education schools and it was achieved but then declined, in short everything that had to happen over forty years to come to conceive as the basis of history to research.

Defining the word ‘history’ is not an easy task, due to the importance of it; You cannot give a rigid definition as to other sciences such as physics or chemistry, history is not an exact science but must be defined clearly and eloquently. The work of the historian is also not an easy task thanks to the changing state of history, development, and sociological and mental advances. However, once the dedication to the study of this science is chosen, it must be carried out with precision, enthusiasm, and truthfulness. It is constantly thought that history is a science of the past, which seems a bit improper since its study provides us with an important help in the present, to better understand it and predict a future to come. In the past, there were events like eclipses, hailstorms, etc. That they were kept in people’s memory, however, the analysis and classification necessary to be part of the story were not carried out. History is a science that can create bridges of knowledge with other sciences, for example, astronomy, physics, geology, etc. therefore we can affirm that it is a multidisciplinary science. The object of history is essentially men, in the plural, hence the question arises: is history a science or an art? Over time, much has been discussed about this question, the most sensible perhaps would be to leave it at an intermediate point since it is a science to which we must devote some finesse in the language and how to transmit.

We have already said that history is the ‘science of men’ this only needs to be added ‘in time’ since it is of the utmost importance to define the duration of events and their space in time. The historian is interested in the place where events took place and try to focus on that. The time of the story must be continuous but when there is an unmarked period try to establish a link of that period. The men in their investigations have taken the ‘past’ as their main theme to explain the present according to what happened in the past, using different techniques. Renán quotes: ‘In all human things origins deserve to be studied first of all.’ Although the term “origins-origin” can be confusing we have to clarify with a clear definition so that there are no ambiguities and there are not so many confusions other than explaining a beginning. A clear example is the study of the origins of the history of the Christian religion since this study has provided a certain value within other religions and has excelled thanks to these investigations; since being essentially a historical religion, its primordial dogmas are documented and analyzed. What this religious history tries to understand is because men believe in it the crucifixion and the resurrection. ‘A historical phenomenon can never be fully explained outside the study of its moment’; This means that we have to study our present to know the past, and the past to know our present.

The limits of the current and the actual. It is about making sense of the past with our present, taking into account that to know more about the history we have to understand the causes that triggered it.

It also tells us that we should not rely on false or erroneous sources because despite carrying out an investigation and analyzing it, we will create a false source and it will be of no use to understand a story. Some wise people think that the human presence is perfect for scientific knowledge but that they leave to other disciplines which their objective is the past to do the study of that same. since it is said that sociologists, economists, publicists; are the explorers of the living. To understand our present with the past we have to make a comparison since human conditions undergo rapid and total changes between generations. Errors about the causes of the past not only make us ignore it and prevent knowledge of the present, but we will repeat those same mistakes in the future.

For a change to occur, one could say that there should be a certain Indian line where parents will teach their children what their ancestors have left them but cannot have contact with them. The writings are a very useful tool to understand our past because they facilitate the transfers that constitute the continuity of a civilization. The incomprehension of the present is a cause of ignorance of the past. To interpret the rare documents and have an idea of ​​the history, the passage of the present has to be observed and analyzed. There is only one science of men in time and that science is what links the study of the dead with that of the living.

In 1961 Edward. H. Carr. In an attempt to answer the question: what is history now? First, the concepts of history and chronicle were stopped. For E. H. Carr, history was an attempt to understand and interpret the past, for this it was necessary to explain the past and the origin of things reasonably. Also according to the author (E. H. Carr), ‘the chronicle was mere cataloguing of the facts without any intention of establishing connections between them.’ In other words, it is a chronological arrangement of historical facts but without any connection between them. However (says Carr) that is important because it states that one event gives rise to another, but the historian had to explain these casualties. According to Carr, a historian he must be an excellent researcher and be objective, based on this he exposes the differences between a chronicler and a historian, the first only conceives a fact of the past as a simple historical fact and nothing else, instead, the historian must not only study the characteristics of that fact but should look further and contrast it with the present to realize what this event influenced in what we know today as the present. For Carr, the historian’s goal was to interpret the historical events of the past even if he did not have Theories of the present. Through this helps humanity to understand the present and build a future, in fact at this time in which he writes, for many the story was exciting since it is precisely the aforementioned. The author expressed his feeling concerning the aspect of history that was not taught and not only taught that of a single country but also those of other countries because they all influence the economic, political, social and cultural situations of others.

He fought because all this was a reality and he succeeded five years later when a curriculum was developed where the subject of history was included in the university, this was in favour of young historians in the sixties, but it should be mentioned that the young historians of the time had to be authentic and their work would have that being efficient and useful for the society in which they operate, that is, having a firm knowledge base to support the political problems of the present, supported by the social sciences since the story is more a scientific study than a literary one. Carr’s proposal was not completely out of place but it came more at a very opportune moment, precisely when technology was in full swing, a tool that thanks to its applications, it allowed to organize historical events in a better way. During the sixties, in many developed countries there was an increase in higher schools and the enrollment of students, therefore teachers of history who taught with the projects that Carr had raised for years. but at the end of the sixties, this was in crisis. The intellectual conservatism as a politician put in definitive the possibility of knowing more historical events, in addition to that there were social and economic changes and other types of conflict such as ethnic identity, sexual orientation, religion among others, demanded more attention and fell into consumerism, all this challenged Carr’s theories and the idea that history could be proven by scientific methods.

In the 1990s, the world of carr entered a crisis, but the young historians are interested in truly knowing history, even if they did not have evidence, so they wrote what they understood about history, but those writings were not objective because it grounded at this same time, history was replaced by other subjects such as financial studies, that is, history was no longer seen as a subject that should be included in the program. Social history also emerged not as a branch of history but as the subject that was intended to replace traditional history. But at the beginning of the year, two thousand it could be noted that people had not stopped writing history and students had not stopped learning about the past, that is when historians began to write about the history of humble people and the modern era, historians think that through these writings we can appreciate more the human condition, knowing about our culture and others, this does not mean, Carr, says that history already it has been lost but many historians still write important facts. Human beings have a historical conscience. The literary culture has been in charge of recovering the memories of important historical events, even the novels and the film industry have become an ideal means to spread these facts, based on the staging of ancient scenes in a past context historians participate exhaustively in these projects because numerous facts of historical relevance have given rise to very successful programs, but obviously, they have a deep knowledge about the subject that the film is going to deal with, novel program. The above can be understood as, that people were hungry for history and without realizing it is learning history. Nowadays, history tries to form the identity of the individual, reflecting on Who are we? Or where do we come from? In addition to that, it also has a very important role in national identity.

According to the author (EH Carr) “history is above all great forces and movements”, but without a doubt history in the media and the libraries have different meanings, also mention that the current history is based on exhaustive research. Currently, the educational levels are very good, they have a better level compared to those of about forty years ago, but fortunately, the historians of today have adapted to current history and communicate through radio and television audiences this was thanks to the influence of modernist theories. Carr said that you have to study the historian before studying the work he presents, that is, when we know the life of the historian we give ourselves a broader idea about his ideas or his purposes for which they wrote history based on the experience they had about the subject or their profession, these characters also do not function as recipients that accumulate historical documents, but each one carries with them their vision, opinion, and purpose for which they wrote about these facts, of course; the historian could not manipulate or distort the facts because they are the material they work with.

As we could tell in this brief essay, the study of history is very important in our days, since it gives us the necessary information to understand the world around us, it is a multidisciplinary science because, in addition to helping other sciences, it also provides important data to knowledge in general. It is science made by men and for men in a certain time, the delimitation is important not to fall into errors, hence the importance of the hard work of historians, since they will give us the necessary tools to build a better future based on knowledge and understanding of the past. And to conclude, I think that Carr’s enthusiasm in fighting for historical concepts and teaching was very positive and transcendent because, at that time and today, that is to say; At all times it is of utmost importance the teaching of history in the classrooms not only of higher education but in the classrooms where basic education is taught, so that children and society at the same time realize and have a historical basis for understanding your present and as Carr said: ‘build a future.’ Through it, we can form our own identity and that of our nation as unique and not as a copy of any other.