Nature, Scope and Concept of History

Introduction
History is the study of life in society in the past, in all its aspect, in
relation to present developments and future hopes. It is the story of
man in time, an inquiry into the past based on evidence. Indeed,
evidence is the raw material of history teaching and learning. It is an
Inquiry into what happened in the past, when it happened, and how it
happened. It is an inquiry into the inevitable changes in human affairs
in the past and the ways these changes affect, influence or determine
the patterns of life in the society. History is, or should be an attempt
to re-think the past. Collingwood (1945) is particularly interested in
this concept of history. History aims at helping students to understand
the present existing social, political, religious and economic
conditions of the people. Without the knowledge of history, we
cannot have the background of our religion, customs institutions,
administration and so on. The teaching of history helps the students to
explain the present, to analyze it and to trace its course. Cause and-
effect relationship between the past and the present are lively
presented in the history. History thus helps us to understand the
present-day problems both at the national and international level
accurately and objectively. In this unit we will be dealing with
meaning, nature and scope of history, aims and objectives of teaching
history at secondary level and values of teaching history.
Concept of History
History is the analysis and interpretation of the human past enabling
us to study continuity and changes that are taking place over time. It
is an act of both investigation and imagination that seeks to explain
how people have changed over time. Historians use all forms of
evidence to examine, interpret, revisit, and reinterpret the past. These
include not just written documents, but also oral communication and
objects such as buildings, artifacts, photographs, and paintings.
Historians are trained in the methods of discovering and evaluating
these sources and the challenging task of making historical sense out
of them. History is a means to understand the past and present. The
different interpretations of the past allow us to see the present
differently and therefore imagine—and work towards—different
futures. It is often said to be the “queen” or “mother” of the social
sciences. It is the basis of all subjects of study which fall under the
category of Humanities and Social Sciences. It is also the basis of the
study of philosophy, By : Pallavi Talekau, Dr. Jyotrimayee Nayak ,
Dr.S.Harichandan 3 of 72 politics, economics and even art and
religion. No wonder, it is considered an indispensable subject in the
complete education of man.
Explanation
The origin of the word History is associated with the Greek word
‘Historia’ which means ‘information’ or ‘an enquiry designed to elicit
truth’. History has been defined differently by different scholars.
Following definitions indicate the meaning and scope of History.
Burckhardt: “History is the record of what one age finds worthy of
note in another.” Henry Johnson: “History, in its broadest sense, is
everything that ever happened.” Smith,V.S: “The value and interest of
history depend largely on the degree in which the present is
illuminated by the past.” Rapson: “History is a connected account of
the course of events or progress of ideas.” NCERT: “History is the
scientific study of past happenings in all their aspects, in the life of a
social group, in the light of present happenings.” Jawaharlal Nehru:
“History is the story of Man’s struggle through the ages against
Nature and the elements; against wild beasts and the jungle and some
of his own kind who have tried to keep him down and to exploit him
for their own benefit.” The above definitions explain History as a
significant record of events of the past, a meaningful story of
mankind depicting the details of what happened to man and why it
happened. Mainly it deals with the human world.
Nature of History
1.
A study of the present in the light of the past: The present has evolved out of
the past. Modern history enables us to understand how society has come to its
present form so that one may intelligently interpret the sequence of events. The
causal relationships between the selected happenings are unearthed that help in
revealing the nature of happenings and framing of general laws.
2.
History is the study of man: History deals with man’s struggle through the
ages. History is not static. By selecting “innumerable biographies” and
presenting their lives in the appropriate social context and the ideas in the
human context, we understand the sweep of events. It traces the fascinating
story of how man has developed through the ages, how man has studied to use
and control his environment and how the present institutions have grown out of
the past. By : Pallavi Talekau, Dr. Jyotrimayee Nayak , Dr.S.Harichandan 4 of
72
3.
History is concerned with man in time: It deals with a series of events and each
event occurs at a given point in time. Human history, in fact, is the process of
human development in time. It is time which affords a perspective to events and
lends a charm that brightens up the past.
4.
History is concerned with man in space: The interaction of man on
environment and vice versa is a dynamic one. History describes about nations
and human activities in the context of their physical and geographical
environment. Out of this arise the varied trends in the political, social, economic
and cultural spheres of man’s activities and achievements.
5.
Objective record of happenings: Every precaution is taken to base the data on
original sources and make them free from subjective interpretation. It helps in
clear understanding of the past and enables us to take well informed decisions.
6.
Multisided: All aspects of the life of a social group are closely interrelated and
historical happenings cover all these aspects of life, not limited only to the
political aspect that had so long dominated history.
7.
History is a dialogue between the events of the past and progressively
emerging future ends. The historian’s interpretation of the past, his selection of
the significant and the relevant events, evolves with the progressive emergence
of new goals. The general laws regulating historical happenings may not be
considered enough; attempts have to be made to predict future happenings on
the basis of the laws.
8.
Not only narration but also analysis: The selected happenings are not merely
narrated; the causal relationships between them are properly unearthed. The
tracing of these relationships leads to the development of general laws that are
also compared and contrasted with similar happenings in other social groups to
improve the reliability and validity of these laws.
9.
Continuity and coherence are the necessary requisites of history: History
carries the burden of human progress as it is passed down from generation to
generation, from society to society, justifying the essence of continuity.
10.
Relevant: In the study of history only those events are included which are
relevant to the understanding of the present life.
11.
Comprehensiveness: According to modern concept, history is not confined to
one period or country or nation. It also deals with all aspects of human life-
political, social, economic, religious, literary, aesthetic and physical, giving a
clear sense of world unity and world citizenship.
The Modern concept of history
Modern history has gone beyond the traditional status of an antiquarian and
leisure time pursuit to a very useful and indispensable part of a man’s
education. It is more scientific and more comprehensive. It has expanded in all
directions both vertically and horizontally. It has become broad-based and
attractive. According to modern concept, history does not contain By : Pallavi
Talekau, Dr. Jyotrimayee Nayak , Dr.S.Harichandan , only the history of kings
and queens, battles and generals, but the history of the common man-his house
and clothing, his fields and their cultivation, his continued efforts to protect his
home and hearth, and to obtain a just government, his aspirations,
achievements, disappointments, defeats and failures. It is not only the individual
but the communities and the societies are the subject of study of history. Study
 of history deepens our understanding of the potentialities and limitations of the
present. It has thus become a future-oriented study related to contemporary
problems. For all these reasons, history has assumed the role of a human
science.
History-a Science or an Art
Opinions are very much divided on the question whether history is a science or
an art. History is a science in the sense that it pursues its own techniques to
establish and interpret facts. Like other natural sciences such as the Physics and
Chemistry uses various methods of enquiry such as observation, classification,
experiment and formulation of hypothesis and analysis of evidence before
interpreting and reconstructing the past. History also follows the scientific
method of enquiry to find out the truth. Though historian uses scientific
techniques, experiment is impossible since history deals with events that have
already happened and cannot be repeated.
Arguments against History as a science
1. No forecasting: Rickman has rightly said, “History deals with sequence of
events, each of them unique while Science is concerned with the routine
appearance of things and aims at generalizations and the establishment of
regularities, governed by laws”. A historian cannot arrive at general principles
or laws which may enable him to predict with certainty the occurrence of like
events, under given conditions. A scientist on the other hand, looks at
knowledge from a universal angle and arrives at certain generalizations that
help him to control the present and predict the future.
2. Complex: The facts of history are very complicated and seldom repeat in the
real sense of the term.
3. Varied: The underlying facts of history have wide scope. They are so varied
that they can seldom be uniform.
4. No observation and experimentation: Historical data are not available for
observation and experimentation.
5. No dependable data: Historical data are the products of human thoughts and
action which are constantly changing. They therefore cannot provide
dependable data for the formation of general principles and laws. By : Pallavi
Talekau, Dr. Jyotrimayee Nayak.
History is both a Science and an Art
 History is a unique subject possessing the potentialities of both a science and
an art. It does the enquiry after truth; thus, history is a science and is on
scientific basis. It is also based on the narrative account of the past; thus, it is an
art or a piece of literature. Physical and natural sciences are impersonal,
impartial and capable of experimentation. Whereas absolute impartiality is not
possible in history because the historian is a narrator and he looks at the past
from a certain point of view. History cannot remain at the level of knowing
only. The construction and reconstruction of the past are inevitable parts of
history. Like the work of art, its wholeness, harmony and truth are inseparable
from a concrete and vivid appreciation of its parts. History, in fact, is a social
science and an art. In that lie its flexibility, its variety and excitement.
Scope of History
The scope of History is vast; it is the story of man in relation to totality of his
behavior. The scope of history means the breadth, comprehensiveness, variety
and extent of learning experiences, provided by the study. History which was
only limited to a local saga, has during the course of century become universal
history of mankind, depicting man’s achievements in every field of life-
political, economic, social, cultural, scientific, technological, religious and
artistic etc., and at various levels-local, regional, national, and international. It
starts with the past; makes present its sheet-anchor and points to the future.
Events like wars, revolutions, rise and fall of empires, fortunes and misfortunes
of great empire builders as well as the masses in general are all the subject
matter of history. History is a comprehensive subject and includes-History of
Geography, History of Art, History of Culture, History of Literature, History of
Civilization, History of Religion, History of Mathematics, History of Physics,
History of Chemistry, History of Education, History of Biology, History of
Atom, History of Philosophy-in fact history of any and every social, physical
and natural science we are interested in. History today has become an all-
embracing, comprehensive subject with almost limitless extent.