The "Essence" of History.....

What is History?
This is one of the toughest questions to answer.....


As a start we could simply state that HISTORY is the Record of the Order / Arrangement of Events in "TIME" (i.e. Chronology.....).

In basic terms, History is "whatever" happened in the Past..... Da!


But this raises an even more perplexing Philosophical / Scientific Question of the "Meaning of TIME"!


Science treats "Time as a Fundamental Property of the Universe", but so far Scientists and Philosophers have failed come up with a coherent all-encompassing definition that is agreeable to everyone.....

In Science, the way to "Quantify the Direction of the Passing of Time" (i.e. to separate the Past from the Present and the Future) is through the Concept of Entropy (Amount of Disorder). The total Entropy of an Isolated System (the Universe being a classic example) is "by definition" increases with the "Passing of Time"......

Within the last few centuries, science has gone through revolutions in it's "Understanding of Time", from the "Absolute Time" of Galileo/Newton to the "Relative Time" of Einstein.


When confronted with the above complexities, it is reasonable to claim that "History" in the "Broadest" sense "Investigates" the "Whole of Existence"!


The "purpose" of Historical Inquiry is find out how things came to be.

And the "goal" of Scientific Inquiry is to figure out why things are the way they are.

These two paradigms of inquiry can be considered as being opposite sides of the same coin, thus making both Science & History closely inter-linked.


So, can History be studied as a Science? May be.....
But it could also be argued that all Sciences need to be studied from a Historical Viewpoint!


One aspect of History which Historians contemplate on is that History tends to repeat itself.... an indication of the inability of people to learn from their mistakes.


At the current state of "Scientific Knowledge", the "Ultimate Beginning of TIME" (hence History itself....) is the "BIG BANG", although some Scientists and Philosophers the questioning validity of such an "Absolute Beginning".....