What Defines History
What Defines History
What Defines History - History, chronicle, saga, history, or tambo in Indonesian can be interpreted as events and events that actually happened in the past or the origins (descendants) of genealogies, especially for the reigning kings. The science of history is the science used to study important events of the human past. Historical knowledge includes knowledge of past events and knowledge of historical ways of thinking. People who specialize in studying history or historians are called historians.
In the past, learning about history was categorized as part of the cultural sciences (humanities). However, now history is more often categorized into social sciences, especially when it comes to chronological tracing of history. History studies various events related to humanity in the past.
History Etymology
The word history literally comes from the Arabic word which means tree. In Arabic itself, history is called a date. The word date in Indonesian means more or less the time or calendar. The word history is closer to the Greek language, namely historia which means knowledge or intelligent people. Then in English it becomes history, which means the human past. Another word that is close to the reference is Geschichte which means it has happened.
In terms of European languages, the origin of the historical term used in Indonesian literature has several variations, however, many admit that the term history has its origin, in Greek, namely historia. In English known with history, French historie, Italian storia, German geschichte, which means what happened, and Dutch known as geschiedenis.
Looking at the linguistic meanings of the various languages above, it can be emphasized that the notion of history is related to time and events. Because the problem of time is important in understanding an event, historians tend to overcome this problem by making periodization.
Understanding history according to experts
• J.V. Bryce
History is a record of what people have thought, said and done.
• W.H. Walsh
History focuses on records that are meaningful and important to humans. The record covers the actions and experiences of humans in the past in matters that are important so that it is a meaningful story.
• Patrick Gardiner
History is the study of what humans have done.
• Roeslan Abdulgani
History is one of the branches of science that systematically examines and investigates the overall development of society and humanity in the past along with events with a view to critically assessing all the results of this research, to be used as a treasury of guidelines for assessing and determining the current situation and future process direction.
• Moh. Yamin
History is a science that is compiled on the results of the investigation of several events that can be proven by material reality.
• Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406)
History is defined as a record of the general human society or human civilization that occurred in the character/nature of that society.
• R. Moh. Ali
Moh. Ali in his book Introduction to Indonesian History, emphasizes the meaning of history as follows:
1. The number of changes, occurrences or events in reality around us.
2. Stories about changes, events, or events in reality around us.
3. Science in charge of investigating changes, events, and or events in the reality around us.
• Kuntowijoyo
Kuntowijoyo in his book Introduction to History, explains the meaning of history both positively and negatively.
Negative Meaning of History
So, what is history? To answer the question about the characteristics of historical science, here will be described the meaning of history negatively first.
History is not a myth
(Greek mythos means fairy tale) . It's the same as telling the past with (1) an unclear time, and (2) events that don't make sense to today's people. From Java there is a myth about King Dewatacengkar, a man-eater, who was defeated by Ajisaka. Ajisakalah, who later arrived in Java, was used as a benchmark by Sultan Agung in determining the calendar. From Sumatra there is a myth that tells of King Iskandar Zulkarnain descending from Bukit Seguntang, who then sent down kings.
Similarly, from Sulawesi there is a myth about the descent of To Manurung who later also sent down kings. Such myths are indeed widely spread in the archipelago. Myths usually begin with "The word that has a story" or "Kata sahibul saga". Myths have their own uses, but myths are not history. In myth there is no explanation of when events occurred, whereas in history all events are told exactly when they occurred.
In the Babad Tanah Jawa it is stated that the kings of Mataram are descendants of the prophets on the one hand and descendants of wayang figures on the other. Likewise, from Sunda there is a story about Dayang Sumbi who vowed to marry anyone who was able to deliver a fallen needle. The woman must mate with a dog, because it is the animal that can bring her needles. The events in the myth do not make sense to today's people, even though they are believed to have actually happened in the past.
Myths along with chants, mantras, verses and sayings belong to oral traditions. Oral tradition can become history, provided there are other historical sources. Perhaps for people who are not familiar with writing, for example the old people in East Timor and Irian Jaya, as well as in Africa, people will rely on oral traditions in writing history. To trace the origins of black slaves in America there is no other way but history must use African oral traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation. All sources are legitimate, as long as historical research procedures are applied.
History is not philosophy
History as a science can fall as unscientific when it comes to philosophy: (1) history is moralized, and (2) history as a concrete science can become an abstract philosophy.
In the Middle Ages history was influenced by theology, in the 19th century by liberalism and nationalism, and in the 20th century by Marxism. The reaction to the moralization of history occurred in the 19th century when history was influenced by the Positivism school of philosophy in all sciences. History tried to be independent as a positive science with Leopold von Ranke (1795 - 1886) from Germany who recommended that historians only write "what really happened". He is often referred to as the father of modern historiography. By writing about what really happened, history will become objective. Often religious figures from the Middle Ages in Europe are used as role models for the morals of their people.
Philosophy is abstract (Latin abstractus means mind) and speculative (Latin speculation means wishful thinking), in the sense that philosophy only deals with the general mind. If history talks about humans, then what is being discussed is certain people who have a place and time and are involved in events. Philosophy, on the other hand, if he talks about humans, then humans are humans in general, humans who only is in the imagination. Thus, for example, we find the philosophy of Historical Materialism, which presupposes that human history will pass through successive stages: slavery, feudalism, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. This stage will pass everywhere, anywhere, without exception.
History is not Natural Science
History has its own way of working. History is often included in the human sciences or human studies, which in the course of time is divided into social sciences (social sciences) and humanities (humanities). People often distinguish between the natural sciences and the human sciences. On the one hand, the natural sciences (including certain social sciences) aim to find general laws, or are nomothetic (Greek nomo means law, and tithenai means to establish), while history tries to write things that are unique or characteristic. ideographic, the Greek idio means the characteristics of a person, and the Greek graphein means writing; often also called ideographic, Greek idea means mind and graphein, because history is the science that writes the minds of actors).
In the natural sciences, laws apply permanently, regardless of person, place, time, and atmosphere. If there is a law that heated objects will expand, then all objects will expand regardless of who, where, when, and under what circumstances. In sociology, a science is only up to the level of possibility, if we talk about revolution, then what is meant is the sociology of revolution, namely the possibilities that can occur around the revolution. In history we speak of certain revolutions, for example the French Revolution, the American Revolution, or the Mexican Revolution.
History is not literature
History differs from literature in at least four ways: (1) the way it works, (2) the truth, (3) the overall result, and (4) the conclusion. From the way it works, literature is a work of imagination born of life as understood by the author. If by chance the author sympathizes with the marginalized people, he will produce such literature.
If the author happens to have important experience with petroleum workers, then he will write about that experience. We do not expect that the author will fully disclose. The truth for the author is absolutely under his control, in other words the author will be subjective and there is nothing that binds him. For example, the author knows a lot about party people, he has the right to "judge" the political world according to his understanding.
The freedom for the author is so great that he has the right to build his own world. The overall result only demands that the author adheres to the principles of the world he constructs himself. For example, he has already told about people who like smoking, he must not forget to tell stories as if - as if the person doesn't like smoking, without telling the reader. In conclusion, literature could end up with a question. History cannot do that. History must try to provide information as completely, completely, and as clearly as possible.
Positive Meaning of History
As a science, history is tied to scientific research procedures. History is also tied to reasoning based on facts (Latin factus means what is finished). The truth of history lies in the historian's willingness to thoroughly examine historical sources, so that it is hoped that he will reveal them objectively. The end result that is expected is a match between the historian's understanding and the facts. So positively:
History is the science of humans. The events of the past were vast. The occurrence of the universe has passed, but it has become the object of astronomical research, not history. Similarly, the shifts of the earth in the past is the work of geology and not history. So, history only tells about humans. However, it is also not a story about the human past as a whole. Humans in the form of fossils become objects of physical anthropological research and not history. Likewise, objects, which although they are also human works, are more archaeological work. History only deals with today's people. There is an unwritten agreement between archeology and history in Indonesia which is still generally valid today. History will examine events after 1500.
However, today's man is the object together of several social sciences with his main interests, such as sociology, political science, and anthropology. So what is the difference between history and other social sciences?
History is the science of time
Sociology talks about society, including layers of society; political science discusses society, especially aspects of its power; and anthropology talk about society, including culture. History talks about society and in terms of time, so history is the science of time.
What can be said about time? In time four things occur, namely (1) development, (2) continuity, (3) repetition, and (4) change.
Development occurs when people move from one form to another in succession. Usually the community will develop from a simple form to a more complex form. Development presupposes that there are no outside influences that cause a shift. The most obvious example is the development of democracy in America. American society first took the form of small towns in New England in the early 17th century. It was in these small towns that town councils grew, where people gathered. And those small towns grew provincial towns. And provincial cities grew up big cities, and big cities grew up metropolitan cities, and metropolitan cities grew megapolitan cities. Meanwhile, democracy followed the development of the city.
Sustainability occurs when a new society only adopts old institutions. It is said that in the beginning colonialism was a continuation of patrimonialism. Thus, colonial policy simply adopted old habits. In drawing tribute to the conquered kings, the Dutch imitated the native kings. Also in terms of land rent, the Dutch got labor, because that was what the native kings had imposed on the people.
Repetition occurs when an event that happened in the past occurs again. For example, the emergence of strong investors. Throughout the 19th century during the Colonial Government, the big financiers have afflicted the population, and caused many social protests. Now the big financiers appear again and cause a lot of protests. Is history repeating itself?
Change occurs when society undergoes a shift, the same as development. However, the assumption is that there will be large-scale developments in a relatively short period of time. Usually, changes occur due to outside influences. The Padri movement in West Sumatra which opposes adat is often seen as the result of the influence of the Wahhabi Movement in Arabia which was transmitted through the returning pilgrims and Mecca dissatisfied with the rule of the adat.
Likewise, the nationalism movement in Indonesia is often considered as an extension of the Romantic Movement in Europe, the Pan-Islamic Movement in the Middle East, the Young Turk Movement which succeeded in overthrowing the monarchy, and the victory of Sun Yat Sen who succeeded in defeating the Chinese Empire. In Indonesia, the national movement is more intellectuals.
So that each time can be understood, history makes a timing or periodization. The purpose of periodization is so that each period of time becomes clear on its characteristics, so that it is easy to understand. For example, European history can be divided into three periods, namely the Classical Age, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Age. Likewise, Indonesia can usually be divided into four periods, namely Prehistory, Ancient Age, Islamic Age, and Modern Age. Of course the periodization is made according to the type of history to be written. For example, the periodization of Political History will be different from the denomination of Intellectual History.
History is the science of something that has social meaning
Not all of them are essential for the development and change of society. The arrival of the pilgrims may be a common occurrence. However, the arrival of certain hajjis was important because in 1888 it was they who fomented a peasant revolt in Banten. That women become composers is not important now, when many women have become songwriters.
However, this is not the case for 'the first woman to become a songwriter. Likewise, the Dutch building may not be important, but the dance hall in one city is important, because the building has a social meaning, because it is an example of a relic of an era. Pakubuwana X's trip to a resting place might not be important, but when Pakubuwana X went to the regions in the 1910s it could be important for the Colonial Government, because it was considered to have inspired Javanese nationalism.
History is the science of something specific, unique, and detailed
History is a particular history, particular (Latin particularis means particular; the opposite of general, Latin generalis means general). In this respect history is different from philosophy and other sciences. For example, history will talk about social mobility (movement from level to level), it must be clear when and where. The title could be: “Social Mobility in Boston in the 19th Century”, whereas sociology could talk about social mobility in industrial society in general.
Furthermore, history is the science of one one, unique (English unique, Latin unicus means one and only; opposite and similar, Latin similis means like), because history must write events, places, and times that only happened once. For example, history should write about the communist uprising in Indonesia in 1965, not about rebellions in general which could be repeated again. The communist uprising in Indonesia in 1965 only happened once and will not be repeated anywhere else.
History must be detailed, detailed (Old French detailler means detailed, Latin dis means separate and talea stands for cutting). That is, history must present the small, not limited to the big things. If he was going to tell a story about the court nobility in Yogyakarta in the 19th century, he had to write down the smallest details, about education, marriage, clangenan, and so on and the nobility. Historians are "masters of details".
Definition of History
So, what is history? History is a reconstruction of the past. Do not imagine that rebuilding the past for the sake of the past itself; that's antiquarianism and not history. Also don't think about the distant past. According to an American historian, history is like a person riding a train facing backwards. He can see behind, to the right and left. The only problem was that he couldn't see ahead.
Have you ever played with matchsticks? Even if the matchsticks are scattered in an indistinct shape, you have to arrange them into plots, scarecrows, houses, and so on. There is a tautological definition of history which says that history is what historians do. This tautology asserts that historians have freedom in reconstruction. What binds historians is only a "matchstick" in the form of historical facts. Another parable, the historian is like a puppeteer, he can play anything. However, it is limited by two things, namely wayang and play. Put the puppet as a fact, and the play as the theme chosen by the historian.
What is reconstructed history? It is anything that people have thought, said, done, felt, and experienced. Historians can write anything as long as it qualifies to be called history.