History+and+the+Human+Sciences

**Day 1–Differences between social and natural realities **
- A major question to be addressed here is: Can these be considered sciences? - It is impossible to apply a scientific approach to human behavior. - Actions can be explained by social norms, but not scientifically. - Example: Durkheim's studies of suicide rates; how would you find out why they killed themselves?

Day 2– Holism and methodolical individualism; dichotomies - Weber's theory states that capitalism prospered in the unique conditions that it found in the protestant communities of North America/Europe. - Weber also believed that the most relevant feature of any kind of social action is that it is purposeful. - Argument: if you want to understand the process of capitalist development, in geographic terms, you must look to the meaning that people attach to what they are doing (or not doing).

Day 3–Values and objective knowledge - What are the boundaries of human research? Some people view them far differently from others and this can lead to heated debates. - Milgram Project: tests obedience of people to authorities. - Milgram said that he needed to understand why things happen/people do things, and he is not as concerned about the welfare of the participants.

Day 4– The human sciences - Forces that bind societies together: religion, language, race, culture, class, origin, leader, media, geography, technology, morals, war/ - Forces that tear societies apart: religion, disease, poverty, politics, greed, envy, geography, language, background, technology, media, morals, war, natural disasters/terrorism. - Example of disaffection of a community: strikes.

Day 5–Equilibrium v. conflict - People who believe in theory-based on equilibrium try to understand the successful societies in the developed world. - Conflict thinkers believe that conflict was the result of social injustice. - It is difficult to find common ground between these two ways of thinking, and can easily be argued that one is better or more accurate than the other.

Day 6–Other complications - It is impossible to isolate human behavior/categorize it. - People change under certain conditions, impossibly to put them in a specific group. - Keeping track of human behavior in history is impossible because some/most information is lost/misinterpreted.

Day 7–What is history? History and the knower's perspective - History is an indispensible WOK, an essential guide to the future, one of the principle approaches to knowledge in all areas. - History is a falsification of the past and can serve as a source of negative knowledge. - When studying history one must: be skeptical (no opinion can be trusted), seek out opposing views.

Day 8–Multiple perspectives in history - There are many ways to interpret history and no set way is the correct way. This can depend on everything from background to race to religion. - History is important because all knowledge is historical knowledge; can be interpreted in different ways. - History of humankind is the history of knowledge development. - Humans are metacognitive/self-analytical. - History is a check on other AOKs. <span class="wiki_link">- Humans construct collective identity through the past. <span class="wiki_link">- People can emulate through history.

Day 9–<span class="wiki_link"> History and the WOKs <span class="wiki_link">- The nature understanding history relies solely on the WOKs that the historian utilizes and the historian's main purpose. <span class="wiki_link">- (Sense Perception) The perception of the historian is based on what they believe happened or what they believe to be important. <span class="wiki_link">- (Emotion) In history, emotion turns factual evidence into interpretation by contextualizing the fact. <span class="wiki_link">- (Reason) The selection of which historical facts to use are through reason. <span class="wiki_link">- (Language) Language frames thought and gives history power to be understood or interpreted in various ways.

Day 10–The methods of history - History is its own category in the sense that it is not like any art or science; it relies on historical methods to explain reality mixed with imagination. - History is both progressive and reactionary, there are many debates over this issue. - "Each historian is a product of his or her cultural paradigm" (p. 220). It's up to the public to judge these events and interpret them, taking away facts from the historian.

Day 11–The process of historical development - Patterns are common in history and can lead to new thinking about history and the areas within it. - The goals of a historical process are as follows: objectivity, freedom from bias, an incorruptible approach. - New historical evidence or changes in history can lead to shifting of thought and new approaches.

Day 12–<span class="wiki_link_new">The role of the individual v. groups, thought v. material forces <span class="wiki_link_new">- "great person theory" vs. "great movement theory"- continuing controversy <span class="wiki_link_new">- Individual leaders offer symbolic "oneness" that can lead to a paradigm shift. <span class="wiki_link_new">- The same goes for social movements, ex. communism.

Day 13–One historian - Era of Historian: feminist/antifeminist, multiple views - Era of Audience: post-feminist - Era of Events: male dominated/pre-feminist

Day 14–Symposium I: Can one learn more about humanity from the human sciences or history? -