The Perspective And The Purpose Of History :: Expository Essays Research Papers

The Perspective And The Purpose Of Hi narrativeHistory is a story told over time. It is a way of recreating the noncurrent so it croupe be studied in the present and re-interpreted for future generations. Since humans are the furbish up beneficiaries of story, it is important for us to know what the purpose of history is and how historians include their induce 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 come through out our lives effectively if we had no knowledge of the past. Also, in order to win a sound knowledge of the past, we have to understand the political, social and ethnical aspects of the times we are studying. In What is History, Alan Bullock believes that history is an attempt to explicate the sequence and connections of events. He believes that History is to explain why...it is not to explain why they had to follow, but why they did in fa ct follow. It is believed by Bullock that history is taken apart and is put together by an historian, so that it may yield new evidence, that will teach us a lesson from the past in order to become more aware of the future. This connective tale helps us get inside the skin of this man or aggroup of men. Russel B. Nye also shares similarities with McPhee in History, Meaning and Method, saying that History is a repartee to the eternal desire of human beings to know about themselves. Nye believes that history is touch with societies and the individuals who live in these societies. He emphasises the importance of people, their individual choices, the values they commit and the angles of vision by which they have looked at themselves and the world. It is important to look at history if one is to understand how and why men and women have acted together in society. Nye also shares the same view as Bullock in suggesting that History has the special obligation to recall, reassess and re-interpret the past, bringing it to bear on the present and translating it into a form each new generation can use. Nye believes that history is a social science which requires hypotheses and observations. If we are to make decent use of history, historians have to arrange it in a way that makes it booming for us to identify the facts.