History: inquiry of the past, present, and future; Western Tradition, Classical Greeks, Herodotus, Rational thinking.
"History in its root sense means inquiry" The stress was on the inquiry as such, regardless of subject matter, on the search for explanation and understanding. [Humans are] rational beings: if [they] ask rational questions, [they] can, by the unaided efforts of [their] intellect, discover rational answers. But first [they] must discover that about [themselves]. The Classical Greeks did it, in the 7th century B.C. (insofar as so abstract a notion can be dated at all), and thereby they established the greatest of their claims to immortality. Significantly, the inquiry was first directed to the most universal matters, the nature of being and the cosmos. Only later was [it] extended to [humans, their] social relations and [their] past." Source: The Greek Historians
The American experience is rooted in the "Western Tradition," which includes cultures and nations influenced by societies who developed west of Mesopotamia. This experience does not preclude the existence of other cultures' (Asian, Native American, African ect.) view on "history" as a process of inquiry. You must inquire into the Past, Present, and Future in order to search for rational answers. The process of inquiry occurs only in the present, hence, we are effected by the environment in which we operate in. Since the enviroment readily changes, then our approach towards the past also chaniges. The discipline of "historiography" plots this change over time.
"Historiography" is the process of understanding how the environment impacts the writing of history. All disciplines undergo changes as the environment changes and eventually the intellectual climate. For example, in American history Six major historiographical phases effect the study of the American experience. :
1. Heightened Nationalism: 1700 to 1800:
2. Territorial Expansion: 1800 to 1890s
3. Economics: 1920s to 1930s
4. Politics: 1890s to 1920s
5. Social History: ?Post WWII (1945) to 1960s
6. Quantitative (information age): 1970s to today
Three "methodologies" exist in the inquiring process:
a. Linear/Progressive (Accepted by the Western Tradition)
This approach suggests that history should be studied chronologically while simultaneosly building blocks of knowledge to improve (progress) our society.
b. Linear/Progressive repetitive ("reluctantly" accepted by the Western Tradition)
This approach suggests that we study history chronologically, learn from the past (progress), but appreciate that sometimes history may repeat itself.
c. cyclical approach (not accepted by the Western Tradition):
This approach suggests that everything in life will repeat itself. This disempowers society and casts a shawdow of insecurity in society.