What is History?

What if history….isn’t really what you think it is?

Lets try something

• When did we (humans) figure out the world was round and not flat?

OF COURSE

• WHEN Columbus sailed to America!!

TOO BAD….its just not true!

Eratosthenes calculated the Earth’s circumference with amazing accuracy in 246 B.C.E.

Columbus GOT LUCKY…He thought he was going to India and calculated the Earth at about 1/6th its actual size.

BUT…..

• Columbus was the first European to visit North America?

• TRUE OR FALSE?? REALLY FALSE!!!!

What man made structure can be seen from space?

• EVERYONE KNOWS IT’S THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA….ITS SO LONG.

BUT THAT’S SO WRONG!!!

No singular structure can be seen from space. At its widest its not more than 30 yards across…if you could see that then you’d notice every football field from space or every highway from space.

What does B.C. and A.D. mean with relation to time?

CORRECT!!!!BEFORE CHRIST and AFTER DEATH

I mean….does that even make sense

• If it were true….What the heck do we call the 33 years of Jesus’ life?

• MAYBE …..BC (Before Christ), CL (Christ life), and AD (After Death).

• But we don’t…so… that shouldn’t make sense.

So… here is an easy one… What does Sushi mean?

• OF COURSE…..RAW FISH!!BUT…. You know by now that isn’t true is it?

It means sour rice after the vinegar that is used.

• So, how did we get all of this mis-information?

• Why didn’t you ever ask or question anyone?

• Why didn’t someone…at some point tell you it wasn’t true?

• How do these outlines of history change people and the way they view or think about history and people?

Everyone sees things differently

• The way you see history is from one view point. There are others, you should be aware and respectful of them.

• So what is history?• Well….that really depends on who you ask!

• The outline of history depends on who write that history.

What does “History” mean?

• The word “History is Greek and comes from historia. “Knowledge acquired by investigation” and from the English Win-dor. We also get wisdom from here.

• History is then- the wisdom and knowledge gained from investigation.

• BUT we have just shown…YOU DON’T INVESTIGATE

When looking at history

• 1) Always know your source. • 2) Always question, then question again• 3) Know there will be a different view. GO find

them for a better understanding• 4) The best writers of history tell a great story.

How do we do that??

• THE 5 “C’s” of history

1. Change over time2. Context3. Causality4. Contingency 5. Complexity

Change over time

• Easiest one to understand,

• We have different values now, different laws, different technologies, different beliefs.

• Reading history from different times will tell things differently

Context

• Seeing history in the light in which it was told.

– Different people see things differently at different times.

– Just look at how people have been seen differently through history

Causality

• evaluate the contributions of multiple factors in shaping past events.

• MAIN- Causes for World War I. but are the only things? Could there be something else?

Contingency

• Contingency may, in fact, be the most difficult of the C's. • To argue that history is contingent is to claim that every

historical outcome depends upon a number of prior conditions; that each of these prior conditions depends, in turn, upon still other conditions; and so on.

• The core insight of contingency is that the world is a magnificently interconnected place

Address with : Hypothetical Games and “What if’s”

Complexity

• Making sense of a messy world that we cannot know directly, in contrast, is more confounding but also more rewarding.

• You have to take into account feelings, beliefs, religion, history, bias, desire, etc… The list goes on and on.

Address with possible : Mock Debate