The Theories and Study of History

The Theories and Study of History

History is the study of the past events and how and why those events happened. People record events important to history which allows us to learn how we have progressed and what mistakes we have made. People throughout the world, in different cultures and different areas of the world think of history in different ways. There are four main views of history; linear history, cyclic history, Hegelian history and Vortextual history.

Cyclic history is the theory that history revolves in a never ending cycle and repeats itself throughout time in our history. This can be seen in the rise and fall of empires and in the Hinduism beliefs of reincarnation. Vortextual history is similar in the fact that history repeats itself. Vortextual history states that parts of history are measured in large and small events. One large event takes place and leads to a smaller less detailed event, which eventually leads into another larger and perhaps more important event. This theory shows why things happen in stages such as the Roman Empire that leads into the smaller and less recorded Middle or Dark Ages, which leads into the extremely important Renaissance age that started the type of thinking that we have today.

The third theory of history is the Hegelian Theory. This theory states that if two separate events occur, their combination could make another event occur, or thesis plus antithesis equals synthesis. For example, Bob eating a lot plus Bob playing soccer equals Bob getting sick. This theory is centered on cause and event in its most basic form. This is useful, when someone wants to know how or why something happened during history.

The Theory of Linear History shows history as a timeline. It is based on the belief that history happens as events following each other. Every event or time period has its place in time where it stays. Linear history is possibly the easiest theory of how history develops out of any of the four main theories. It is very easy to understand that an event took place in a certain time period which in turn another event took place after that. The Theory of Linear History is usually linked with western culture meaning Western Europe and North America. The almost exact opposite of linear history is cyclic history which comes from cultures usually centered in Asia.
Linear history is the most important theory of history because of the simplicity of it. Timelines are a very simple and easily understood way of showing events in history. It is easier to explain a timeline to someone than to explain the theory of Vortextual History. There is also the fact that a timeline could encompass all the parts of history at once. A timeline could show repeating events, other events that lead up to a major event which explains why that event happened, and it shows events that get smaller and larger and smaller again. Linear history is able to show all of the things that the other types of history show, in a very simple format.

History is the study of past events and how and why they happened. People have been using history to help them since the beginning of humankind. In the stone ages when there was no writing people would use lessons learned in the past to advance their hunting skills or their ability to find food. They also would use stories, drawings, sculptures, and carvings to tell about experiences that past people had, which could become part of their religion or culture.

As people became more advanced, writing systems started to develop. This helped the recording of history because there was a language that was universal for all the people living there in that civilization and the people no longer had to remember things and speak them to pass down the stories. The study of history developed as people and cultures did. Depending on what was happening during that time, the way history was recorded became very different during different time periods. The ancient Greeks and Romans would put history into story form and would make it better for their side of the story. The monks and priest would record history during the middle ages but their historical accounts were based on the Christian faith. Monks were usually the only people that could write, and we still don’t know much of anything about the time because the monks usually only wrote about the Church.

Until the 18th and 19th century’s historical accounts mostly stayed the same, except during the Renaissance people recorded a lot more than what was happening in the Church. The 18th and 19th centuries were when the philosophers like Hegel became a part of history and changed how many people look at history, they thought more deeply about why things were happening other than just recording what happened or writing stories about it. In the 20th century people started to look at history from both sides. They didn’t shift their thoughts to one side as much as the Greeks and Romans did.

History has also been broken down into different fields, just like science has. There are specific studies for history on everything from prehistory art to modern military history. Each field has specialized historians that study it and analyze it. There is also history for almost everything. There are studies of the history of words, buildings, and every other object that has a history.

History is the record of what has happened to us in the past and why that happened and came about. There are four main types of history; the Hegelian theory, linear history, cyclic history, and the theory of Vortextual history. However, linear history stands out because it is very easy to understand learn and can encompass all views of history. These theories have been formed over time like the recording of history has. It has gone from carving and storytelling to monks writing the history of their faith to philosophers thinking about why things happen in history. History changes every day just like people’s views of it change every day.