Can new knowledge changr established values or beliefs? Can you give specific examples like book, or an historical event?
Answers
Explanation:
Reflection: What kinds of things do historians try to acquire knowledge about?
Why does historical knowledge matter?
HOW ANALYSING THE PAST COULD HELP SAVE THE FUTURE.
History, its object of study and its methodology.
Historians want to gather and produce knowledge of the recorded past. The object of historical study is very different in nature from other areas of knowledge. The fact that history is by its very nature not present anymore, makes this area of knowledge quite unique. Historians cannot observe anything from the past in real time. This makes it much more difficult to claim something with certainty when we talk about the past. In this sense, you may wonder whether what it means when we talk about a historical fact. Although historians base their findings on evidence, the interpretation of this evidence is key to the creation of historical knowledge.
Reflection: Is certainty about the past more difficult to attain than certainty about the present or the future?
Reflection: Can the historian be free of bias in the selection and interpretation of material?
BBC: WHAT JAPANESE HISTORY LESSONS LEAVE OUT
Activity: if you had to place 3 objects that best represent the most significant aspects of the history of your country in a museum, what would those objects be and why?
Nevertheless, history is not merely subjective and sound historical knowledge is not purely speculative or only based on interpretation. Although historians cannot observe what happened in a laboratory nor do experiments to confirm their hypothesis, they have developed alternative methods to gather knowledge. Although these methods are different from the ones in other areas of knowledge, they are still valuable methods of inquiry. Historians gather documentary evidence in order to come to the best possible interpretation. Sometimes there is an overwhelming amount of evidence available to confidently claim that something is a historical fact. The very denial of these historical facts carries ethical implications. For example, denying that slavery or the holocaust existed would be foolish and morally wrong.
Ignoring historical facts and diminishing historical knowledge to the realm of mere imaginative interpretation can lead to a false sense of historical knowledge. Ignoring collective memory can be dangerous. After all, history can have a moral function, as we can learn from our mistakes in the past. In addition, denying people the right to mourn loss on a large scale can lead to bitterness and wrath