History as a science. What does historical science study?

To the question What does history study as a science? Give a definition please. given by the author Nikita Schmakov the best answer is The very concept of “history” arose in ancient times. It means, translated from ancient Greek, “narration of what is known.” Since antiquity, the science of the past has become relatively independent region human knowledge. It initially represented the basis of a worldview, without which knowledge of the surrounding world and the human personality in it is impossible. Gradually, an idea of ​​the history of peoples and states as a connected sequence of main events was formed. Back in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome the idea of ​​eternal change in nature and society was recognized, attention was paid to the consistent change of forms government system, economic structures, morals and customs. At the same time, in Eastern philosophy, history was understood as an endless chain of transformations of human essence within the boundaries of one or another divine, cosmic and social unity. Historical science in its modern understanding - as a research direction and academic discipline - emerged much later. Currently, it shares world history, within which it studies the origins of man and his development, as well as the history of individual countries, peoples, civilizations from ancient times to the present day, including domestic history.
History as a science operates with precisely established facts. As in other sciences, history continues to accumulate and discover new facts. These facts are extracted from historical sources. Historical sources are all remains past life, all evidence of the past.
The past does not disappear, but continues to live in the accumulated experience of social life. Generalization and processing of accumulated human experience is the primary task of history.
It is important that the life of people in time and space, called history, being the real existence of social life, embraces all its manifestations and does not imply any arbitrary exceptions.
History as a science and educational subject in modern world: Comparative characteristics
History has always aroused great public interest. This interest is explained natural need people to know the history of their ancestors. In past years, history as a science was largely politicized and permeated with one-sided ideological dogmas. Many pages of history were reflected in literature one-sidedly, and sometimes distorted, which left a certain imprint on the formation of the historical thinking of people, especially young people. Today we are moving away from these cliches and from everything that prevents historians from being extremely objective. At the same time, it should be noted that today there are many cases when a number of researchers rush to the opposite extreme in assessing historical events, moving away from historical objectivity, and see nothing in history except tragedies and mistakes. This approach is also far from an objective assessment of our past and present.
Historical science has accumulated extensive experience in creating works on history. Numerous works published over the years, both in our country and abroad, reflect a diverse range and concepts historical development, its relationship with the world historical process.
In every science, the subject of study is a system of certain objective laws. History as a science is no exception. Its subject of study is the patterns of socio-economic and political development country and its peoples, the specific forms of which are manifested in historical events and facts.

Answer from Moon[guru]
person in space and time

Answer from Unknown Unknown[guru]
The science of the interaction of past events, what factors influenced them and what it all resulted in.... Something like this :)
In general, history should be taught only because it allows you to avoid the mistakes of the past.

Answer from Kamil valeev[guru]
Studies the evolution of society.

Answer from YAr1K**[active]
the sphere of humanities that deals with the study of man (his activities, condition, worldview, social connections and organizations, etc.) in the past; in a narrower sense - a science that studies written sources about the past in order to establish the sequence of events, the objectivity of the described facts and draw conclusions about the causes of events. It is believed that people knowledgeable about history tend to repeat the mistakes of the past.
The original meaning of the word “history” goes back to an ancient Greek term meaning “investigation, recognition, establishment.” History was identified with establishing the authenticity and truth of events and facts. In Ancient Roman historiography (historiography in modern meaning- a branch of historical science that studies its history), this word has come to mean not a method of recognition, but a story about the events of the past. Soon, “history” began to be called any story about any incident, real or fictitious.
Nikolaos Gyzis. Allegory of History, 1892
Stories that are popular in a culture but not supported by outside sources, such as the legends of King Arthur, are usually considered part of cultural heritage, and not the “impartial study” that any part of history as a scientific discipline should be.

History is one of the oldest sciences of mankind, the subject of which is the study of facts and events of the past, their cause-and-effect relationship. The cradle of history is considered Ancient Greece. Its founder father is the famous ancient Greek historian and philosopher Herodotus (5th century BC).

Why study history?

What does the study of history give us? A question that probably every person asked himself. The answer to it is simple and obvious - by studying the past, we build our future, guided by the rich experience of the generation that lived many centuries before us. It is not for nothing that the most ardent connoisseurs of history, the ancient Greeks, called her “the teacher of life.” The study of history opens up to us a colorful world of past reality. We become direct participants in events that have sunk into oblivion, which affected the formation of modern human society. History has no unimportant pages, because every century lived by humanity carries an instructive and mentoring character.

The main difficulty in studying history is that everything historical facts are based on the works of participants and observers of events, and in most cases they are filled with political subjectivism and share all the misconceptions of their time. Therefore, the main thing in the study of history is that it is not enough just to state historical events, but also monitor their impact in the future.

What is history?

History should be treated not only as a scientific discipline, but also as a in a fun way know the past. Here everyone will find something interesting for themselves, because history is not only a chronicle of bloody wars and revolutions, but also vibrant medieval knightly tournaments, exquisite balls of the Victorian era, traditions of the Slavic peoples that are important and dear to every Russian heart.

History painstakingly works with the eternal human values, but she never makes judgments herself. She gives us this right. She acts as an impartial observer of the life of humanity, never pointing out the perpetrators and victims. We must do this through a deep analysis of historical facts.

Knowledge of the past history

The process of learning about the past is mandatory for every person, because history has repeatedly amazed humanity with its cyclical nature. Some historical events tend to repeat themselves to this day, but in a more modified form. History shows the impossibility of changing the past so that a person thinks about how he builds the present, because in a few years this will already be added to its lists.

History must be studied in order to have the right to be called a truly educated person. After all, to know and remember how the statehood of one’s country was born, what path the people took in order to become a full-fledged society, how the culture of mankind developed is the sacred duty of a person and a citizen.

Once a person begins to study history, he cannot stop this long and interesting process, and it often lasts a lifetime. After all, history can be studied not only in archives and when working with artifacts. It surrounds us in our cities and villages, it lives in our grandparents, in our present. You just need to have a desire to join its mysterious and fascinating content.

SECTION I FUNDAMENTALS OF HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE

The importance of studying history. One can cite many statements by great people about the benefits of studying history. The famous Roman orator Cicero called history the teacher of life. Similar ideas were expressed by many other prominent figures. Thus, the Spanish writer Miguel Cervantes noted that history is a treasury of our deeds, a witness to the past and a lesson for the present, a warning for the future, and the Russian writer Leonid Andreev argued: “To go forward, look back more often, because otherwise you will forget where you came from and where you need to go."

The above and many other similar statements emphasize the idea that knowledge of the past helps to better understand the present and even predict the future. Indeed, despite all the differences between the present and even the very recent past, it is not difficult to see that much in the life of mankind has remained unchanged since its appearance on Earth.

People have always strived to improve their lives and the lives of their children, and to do this they have always had to work using natural resources. They interacted with each other, uniting into various communities. Between these communities (tribes, nationalities, states, social groups) clashes often occurred and at the same time mutually beneficial ties and cooperation existed. Since ancient times, man has tried to understand his place in the world, so problems related to spiritual life (religion, culture) were important in his life.

All spheres of life of human society have their own patterns, which are studied by historical science. Having considered the effect of these patterns in the past, we can use them in the modern world. The Russian philosopher Arseny Gulyga believed that history is a school of behavior and in the past people look for and find the right models. In his opinion, the experience of history is a true guide, which is often used unconsciously. This is how both individuals and entire nations behave.

True, there is another famous aphorism: “History teaches that it teaches nothing.” New generations of people often make the same mistakes as their predecessors. This probably happens because of the sense of superiority of each new generation: after all, people in the past did not know much of what anyone knows modern man. But we must remember that people at all times have solved problems (sometimes successfully, sometimes not) no less complex than those facing modern humanity.

On the other hand, the failure to use “history lessons” is also due to insufficient knowledge of this science. That is why studying history is important for every person, regardless of his profession.

The problem of the reliability of historical knowledge. Many big and small events have happened and are happening in the world. First of all, they need to be arranged in order of importance. This is where the work of a historian begins, who knows how to view events as links in a certain chain stretching from the past to the present.

In history, unlike many other sciences, there is an “Achilles heel”: the object of historical science - the past - can be called an unreal reality. It is very difficult to verify the correctness of our knowledge of what happened before. Experiments to confirm theories and hypotheses (as happens in other sciences) in history are largely impossible. Is it possible to be confident in the truth of our ideas about the past, and, if we go even further, in the possibility of knowing history in general?

Historical science has accumulated a rich arsenal of techniques and methods that make it possible to make our knowledge about the past as a whole provable, verifiable and consistent.

Of course, the historian does not consider it possible to reveal “the whole truth” about the event he is studying. But the same applies to any other, even the most exact science. After all, the world is infinite, and the process of learning it is endless. There are heated debates between historians on many issues. Sometimes discoveries are made that fundamentally change established concepts. However, now few people will deny a number of firmly established facts and assessments of the past. It is precisely such facts and assessments that form the basis of educational literature on history.

Historical sources and basic methods of work of a historian. The most important problem of historical science is the problem of sources. In the most general terms, historical sources can be called all the remnants of past historical writing, up to very recent times, the role of archaeological materials is very great (for example, for the study of the Great Patriotic War important data is obtained through the search for weapons and military equipment, the remains of soldiers in battlefields). Currently, scientific archaeological excavations are carried out in compliance with strict rules: after all, the most important information is often provided not only by the things found, but also, for example, by their relative position. Closely related to archeology anthropology, which, based on the remains of people, usually recovered by archaeologists, recreates the appearance of a person. Anthropology is especially important in reconstructing the history of the emergence and settlement of peoples. These same questions are among the most important for historical linguistics(linguistics), studying the origin and development of ancient and modern languages. Part of linguistics are onomastics(the science of names), toponymy(the science of geographical names). The most valuable information for historians is provided by the coins that he studies. numismatics. Coats of Arms explores heraldry, seal - sphragistics. In the study of history important place is given ethnography. Customs and traditions, occupations and lifestyles of peoples, for various reasons, remained

transitional stages of development, help in recreating the past of all humanity. Some ancient customs and traditions have been preserved among fully civilized peoples, which is also the object of study by ethnographers. Important and sometimes unique information about the past is contained in tales, traditions, legends, and fairy tales of the peoples of the world. Studying these sources folkloristics makes a huge contribution to historical science. As humanity develops, the number of historical sources increases. In the 19th and early 20th centuries. Such of them as photographs, sound recordings, newsreels arose in the second half of the 20th century. documents appeared on an electronic basis. All this expands the possibilities of historical research. The purpose of studying historical sources is to extract the facts necessary to solve the problem under study. Thus, the work of a historian begins with posing a question to which the scientist wants to find an answer. In this regard, any scientific work in history begins with a review of scientific literature (historiography), which reveals solved and unresolved problems and contradictions of previous researchers. The historian also evaluates the possibility of solving the problem posed and, above all, the presence of remains, including both everything consciously created by people, and everything that appeared independently of their consciousness (for example, the remains of the people themselves). The source is also the “past in the present”, for example, the languages ​​that arose in ancient times, which are now spoken by the peoples of the world, customs and traditions, geographical names, etc.

When studying a topic, a historian strives to draw on as wide a range of sources as possible. When classifying sources, their origin, form and content are taken into account. Most often, sources are divided according to their shape into seven types:

1) written;

2) real;

3) ethnographic;

4) oral (folklore);

5) linguistic;

6) film and photographic documents;

7) phonological documents.

It is clear that many sources are difficult to attribute to any one type. For example, coins are both material and written sources. The shape of the source largely determines the methods of working with it. There are a number of so-called auxiliary historical disciplines that study certain types of sources.

So, when working with written sources you cannot do without paleography- science that studies external signs handwritten and printed sources in their historical development (writing signs, features of their graphics, handwriting, writing material, etc.). When examining ancient written sources that have come down to us, as a rule, in several lists that have some differences, historians use textual criticism- an auxiliary historical discipline that studies the relationship various lists, revealing their original appearance.

Historians obtain the most extensive information about the past from written sources. However, they must be read. The oldest written documents are about 5 thousand years old. Many of them are written either in now dead languages ​​or in ancient forms of modern languages.

A number of dead languages ​​were never forgotten (Latin, ancient Greek), others were deciphered in the 19th - 20th centuries. (ancient Egyptian, Sumerian, Akkadian, Hittite, the language of the Mayan people, etc.), and some have not yet been solved (for example, Elamite, Etruscan).

A significant part of material sources was obtained using archeology. Our information about the history of peoples before the advent of writing is mainly based on data from archaeological excavations. Yes, and for the period after the invention

To solve the problem posed, the historian uses facts gleaned from sources. When selecting facts, assessing their significance, and interpreting them, the scientist relies on his theoretical ideas. Among them, the methodology used by the historian, firmly established scientific conclusions concerning the problem under consideration, information from other sciences that help to understand the historical problem being studied, general cultural ideas and, finally, everyday life observations, which often allow one to immediately assess, for example, the reliability of or the information contained in the source is unreliable. Thus, the process of historical research combines work with sources and the use of theoretical knowledge. It is in this way that a historian can identify the patterns of historical development.

Definition of history.

History is the science of the past of human society and its present, of the patterns of development of social life in specific forms, in space-time dimensions. The content of history in general is the historical process, which reveals itself in the phenomena of human life, information about which is preserved in historical monuments and sources. These phenomena are extremely diverse and relate to the development of the economy, the external and internal social life of the country, international relations, and the activities of historical figures. Accordingly, history is a multidisciplinary science; it is made up of a number of independent branches of historical knowledge, namely: the history of economic, political, social, civil, military, state and law, religion and others.

Methodology of history.

The methodology of history is a system of principles and methods of historical knowledge. Until recently, the most widespread were positivist and Marxist orientations in historical knowledge. The first is based on positive (positive) knowledge based on experience. The second is based on materialist dialectics.

Theories of historical process.

Theory is logic circuit, explaining historical facts. Theories of the historical process are determined by the subject of history. A theory is a logical diagram that explains historical facts. One theory of the historical process differs from another in its subject of study and system of views on the historical process. Each of the theories offers its own version of the vision of the historical process. According to the subjects of study, three theories of the historical process are distinguished:

Religious-historical;

World historical;

Local-historical.

The subject of study of religious-historical theory is the connection between man and God. From the point of view of this theory, the meaning of history lies in the movement of man towards God as the Supreme Mind, the Creator, during which the formation of a free personality occurs.

The subject of study of world-historical theory is the global progress of mankind. All peoples go through the same stages, only for some it happens earlier, for others - later. There are several directions in this theory:

Materialistic (the development of society is driven by the struggle between different classes, which ultimately leads to the construction of a classless society);

Liberal (in history there is always a choice of development path, which depends on a strong person);

Technological (changes in society occur as a result of technological development).

Local historical theory studies local civilizations: their origin, formation, flourishing, decline and death.

Subject of history.

The history of Russia is a scientific discipline that studies the process of development of our Fatherland, its multinational people, and the formation of the main state and public institutions. National history is an integral part of world history. This approach is based on the philosophical categories of general and special. The use of these categories makes it possible to show the features of the development of Russia as a multinational, multi-religious state, which has traditions that have developed over many centuries and its own principles of life. Scientific disputes about its belonging to any type of civilization do not stop today. It is easy to notice that in the past and present of Russia the features of various civilizations are intricately intertwined. Not without reason, a number of scientists claim the existence of a special type of civilization - Eurasian, to which our country belongs.

Therefore, when studying the course, it is necessary to combine a civilizational approach with formational characteristics. Russia is a civilizational region, the unique development of which is determined by natural-climatic, geopolitical, confessional (religious), sociopolitical and other factors. The uniqueness of Russia and its role in the world cultural and historical process were significantly influenced by its border position between Europe and Asia, which led to the contradictory influence of the West and the East on Russia. At the same time, recognition of originality does not mean isolation of Russia from general historical development; The history of Russia is considered within the framework of the formation of world civilization.

The past of every nation is unique and inimitable. In the historical development of the Russian state, it is necessary to highlight a number of determining factors, which include the geographical location, the influence of natural and climatic conditions, the geopolitical factor, the specifics of the spread of religious teachings (multi-confessionalism), religious tolerance, the multinational composition of the population, which has absorbed various traditions of both the East and the and the West. Finally, a significant role in the history of Russia is played by the peculiarities of the national consciousness of Russians and the specifics of their mentality (worldview), as well as traditions social organization- the absence of a rigid structure of society and the undividedness, unlike the West, of the interests of society, the state and the individual - conciliarity. At the same time, this does not mean the absence of corporate interests of certain groups and segments of the population, especially closely related to servicing the institutions of state power and management. On the other hand, the vast expanses of the Russian state, poorly populated by tribes of different languages ​​and customs, poorly connected with each other, could only be governed with the help of a strong centralized government. Without this, the collapse of a unique ethnocultural community would have been a foregone conclusion.

Historical schools.

Historical research involves historiographical analysis. Historiography is the analysis of concepts already existing in scientific and autobiographical literature. Studying the works of historians allows you to determine your own research topic, not repeat paths already taken, and not waste time developing refuted hypotheses.

Historical research can only be recognized as scientific when it has a clearly defined subject, poses a problem, puts forward a hypothesis, and uses appropriate scientific methods, checks the reliability of sources, relies on the historiography of the issue and, finally, argues the author’s concept. Historical knowledge exists in the form of facts and concepts.

Historical school is a concept of the 18th - 19th centuries, since from that time scientists began to create scientifically based theories. Ancient historians explained events by the personal qualities of outstanding rulers and commanders, the morals and traditions of the country, irresistible fate, fate, fate. Medieval historians looked for the causes of events in God's will and drew analogies with biblical stories. Under the influence of the ideas of the French Enlightenment, history began to be viewed from the point of view of the moral improvement of mankind, the ascent from barbaric customs to civilization. Since the 19th century Social, economic, biological and other theories are used to interpret facts.

Public School. The greatest contribution to Russian historical history science XIX centuries contributed by N.M. Karamzin, SM. Soloviev, V.O. Klyuchevsky.

The main work of N.M. Karamzin - “History of the Russian State.” The author's main idea is that Russia perished from anarchy and was saved by wise autocracy. The state was declared the highest value, and the ideal form of government was an enlightened noble monarchy with a patriarchal pre-Petrine way of life. The historian preferred Ivan III and Alexei Mikhailovich, who strengthened the state through gradual transformations, and not through the bloody reigns of Ivan the Terrible and Peter.

The most prominent representative of the state historical school was S.M. Soloviev, who wrote “The History of Russia from Ancient Times” in 29 books. He considered the main factors of history to be the nature of the country, the character of the people and the course of external events. The state is the highest form of historical development, since only in the state the people gain the opportunity for progressive development.

IN. Klyuchevsky, who developed as a scientist at the state historical school, believed that history is influenced by various factors: natural, economic, ethnic, personal. He noted the important role of the process of colonization of new lands in Russian history, which led to an extensive path of economic development. From the point of view of a historian, the character of the Russian people was significantly influenced by the temperate continental climate and forest-steppe landscape, adaptation to which developed the habit of hard but short-term work, patience, a desire to change places, and everyday unpretentiousness. Considerable attention from V.O. Klyuchevsky paid attention to the psychology of behavior of rulers and social groups.

In modern Russian historical science, there are several influential scientific schools that base the analysis of the past on various factors. None of the schools can claim to have absolute truth; each has strong and weak sides, successes and failures.

Marxist direction. Representatives of the movement are based on the position that the material conditions of people’s lives determine their conscious activity. Social structure, politics, law, morality, ideology, and partly art and science depend on the method of production of goods. K. Marx called the dominant mode of production in combination with its inherent superstructure a socio-economic formation. Humanity progresses from lower formations to higher ones: from primitive, slaveholding, feudal, capitalist to communist. For the countries of the East, Marxism proposed a parallel formation - the Asian mode of production, which is based on community, collective and state ownership of land.

In slaveholding, feudal, capitalist formations, society is divided into classes. A class is a large group of people occupying a specific place in the production and distribution of goods, and this place depends on the ownership of the means of production. In the formation there are classes of exploiters (property owners) and exploited. The transition from one formation to another is associated with the improvement of technology, which creates new sources of wealth appropriated by new classes. Having become economically dominant, the new class seizes political dominance. This diagram K. Marx illustrated with examples of bourgeois revolutions in Europe.

Domestic historians of the Soviet period made a significant contribution to the development of Russian historical science. Their works, created within the framework of the Marxist movement, have largely not lost their significance in our time.

The strength of the Marxist historical school is the materialist explanation of the past, the priority study of economic relations, social structure, and public policy. The weak point is Eurocentrism (transferring the development experience of Western European countries to the whole world). The forecast about the inevitable transition of the most developed bourgeois countries to communism, which was considered as the pinnacle of technical and scientific progress and the liberation of the individual from exploitation, turned out to be erroneous.

Civilization school. The founders of this school were N.Ya. Danilevsky and A. Toynbee. The history of the world is considered as a process of development of local civilizations. A. Toynbee considered the place of origin and religion to be constant criteria of civilization. Civilization goes through several stages: birth, growth, flourishing, breakdown, decay, death. It develops through the work of the “Call-Response” system. Any problem in life can be considered as a Challenge - an enemy attack, unfavorable nature and climate, fear of death. There is a solution to the problem. The answer is a reflection of aggression, forms of farming, religion. The progress of civilization is associated with the development of spiritual and material culture, which is carried out by creative individuals. The masses imitate the creative minority and are unable to create something new. The breakdown of civilization is characterized by the emergence of hostile groups within the elite. The collapse of civilization is associated with the degradation of the ruling class, which ceases to be interested in state affairs, and is engaged in personal enrichment and intrigue. The old elite is being replaced by a new elite, formed from unprivileged strata. In the phase of the collapse of civilization, great empires are created, which take as a model either their past (archaism) or the utopian idea of ​​a new system (futurism). The death of a civilization is associated with its conquest by another civilization and the spread of a different culture.

The strength of the civilization school is that it explains the development of all regions of the world, and history is recognized as a multifactorial process, so that at different stages different factors can dominate: economic, political, religious. The weakness of the civilizational approach lies in the vagueness of the “Challenge-Response” criterion, which states more than explains. In addition, this approach practically does not take into account the role of the masses in history.

Theory of ethnogenesis. Developed in detail in the works of L.N. Gumilyov. The history of humanity seems to be the history of ethnic groups. Ethnicity is a group of people with their own stereotype of behavior, which is acquired by offspring through conditioned reflex imitation. The ethnos exists for no more than 1500 years, going through the following stages in its development: passionary impulse, acmatic phase, breakdown, inertial phase, obscuration, homeostasis, memorial phase, degeneration.

Each stage has its own stereotype of behavior - during the passionary impulse and in the acmatic phase, the ideals of sacrifice and victory prevail. Breakdown is characterized by the desire for success, knowledge, and beauty. In the inertial phase, the desire for improvement without risking life is dominant. Obscuration is marked by the predominance of the ideal of a quiet, philistine life adapted to the landscape. In the last phases, the ethnic group turns out to be unable to conduct a productive economy or create a culture and gradually degrades.

The historical age of an ethnos depends on the amount of passionarity - the biochemical energy of living matter, which gives the ability to supercharge forces. Passionarity comes from space in the form of radiation, affects the genes of people and is inherited. In the first stages, energy is in abundance - ethnic groups wage wars and colonization. Over time, the amount of energy decreases, and ethnic groups create a culture. All great empires were created by passionate ethnic groups, but after a certain number of generations the energy decreased and the empires died. The reason could be either conquest from without or collapse from within.

The strength of the school of ethnogenesis lies in the explanation of events in world history on the basis of a measurable value - passionarity. The theory allows us to predict the future of ethnic groups. The weak side of the school of ethnogenesis is the lack of proof of the very concept of “passionarity”. History takes on the characteristics of biology, when all problems can be reduced to an excess or lack of energy.

Most modern Russian historians do not directly connect their research with one school or another. However, when creating concepts, one can trace the influence of one of these schools. Currently, researchers quite rarely rise to the level of generalizations within the framework of world history, preferring to study the history of individual regions and periods, to deepen existing ideas about the past of Russia at a new qualitative level.

Principles of historical science.

What do we understand by the principles and methods of historical science, historical research?

It seems that principles are the main, fundamental principles of science. They come from the study of the objective laws of history, are the result of this study, and in this sense correspond to the laws. However, there is a significant difference between patterns and principles: patterns act objectively, and principles are a logical category; they exist not in nature, but in the minds of people.

In modern historical science, the following basic principles of scientific historical research are applied: objectivity, historicism, social approach to the study of history, comprehensive study of the problem.

The principle of objectivity is one of the principles that obliges us to consider historical reality as a whole, regardless of the desires, aspirations, attitudes and preferences of the subject. Considering history from the perspective of this principle means that it is necessary, first of all, to study the objective laws that determine the processes of socio-political development; that it is necessary to rely on facts in their true content; that it is finally necessary to consider each phenomenon in its versatility and inconsistency, to study all the facts in their totality.

The principle of historicism is one of the most significant for any historical discipline, including the history of Russia. Any historical phenomenon should be studied from the point of view of where, when, due to what reasons (political, ideological) this phenomenon arose, what it was like at the beginning, how it was assessed then, how it then developed in connection with changes in the general situation and internal content, how it was replaced its role, what path it has taken, what assessments it was given at this or that stage of development, what it has become now, what can be said about the prospects for its development. The principle of historicism requires that any person who studies history should not fall into the role of a judge when assessing certain historical and political events. The principle of historicism obliges us to soberly take into account the real forces that certain political forces had at their disposal when implementing their ideas, programs and slogans in specific historical periods.

An important principle in studying the history of Russia is the principle of the social approach. In this regard, the point of view of the outstanding Russian scientist and thinker G.V. Plekhanov is not without interest, who wrote: “Where a historian has to depict the struggle of opposing forces, he will inevitably sympathize with one or the other... In this regard, he will be subjective... But such subjectivism will not prevent him from being a completely objective historian, unless he begins to distort the real economic relations, on the basis of which social forces grew" (Plekhanov G.V. Selected philosophical works. T. 1. M., 1956. P. 671). In modern conditions Russian historians began to call the principle of party membership the principle of a social approach, meaning by it the manifestation of certain social and class interests, the entire sum of social-class relations: in political struggle, in the economic field, in the contradictions of social and class psychology and traditions, in inter-class and extra-class contradictions. The principle of the social approach provides for simultaneous adherence to the principles of subjectivity and historicism. It should be emphasized that the principle of a social approach to political history is especially necessary and essential in the study and evaluation of programs and real political activities political parties and movements, their leaders and activists. A few words should also be said on the principle of comprehensiveness.

The principle of a comprehensive study of history implies not only the need for completeness and reliability of information, but also the fact that it is necessary to keep in mind and take into account all aspects and all relationships affecting political sphere life of society.

Thus, the principles of objectivity, historicism, social approach, and comprehensiveness of study are based on the dialectical-materialist methodology for the study of historical processes.

Historical knowledge.

Historical knowledge is the result of the process of historical knowledge of reality, tested by practice and justified by logic, its adequate reflection in the human mind in the form of ideas, concepts, judgments, theories.

Historical knowledge can be conditionally divided (according to methods of cognition) into three levels.

1) reconstructive knowledge - fixation of historical facts in chronological order - formed in the process of the reconstructive activity of the historian. In the course of this activity (usually using special historical methods - textual, diplomatic, source studies, historiographic, etc.) the historian establishes historical facts. Reconstructive knowledge, a reconstructive picture of the past is created in the form of a narrative (story, narration) or in the form of tables, diagrams.

2) empirical historical knowledge- knowledge about regularities and relationships between various facts, phenomena, processes - is the result of reconstructive processing. Its purpose is to clarify repetition in the process of historical development. In the course of such research, the historian establishes facts more high level– empirical (open regularities – similar signs of processes, typology of phenomena, etc.).

3) theoretical historical knowledge - knowledge about typology and repetition, regularity of facts, phenomena, processes, structures - explains empirical facts in the course of theoretical knowledge. The task of theoretical knowledge is to formulate a theory, i.e. identifying the laws of historical development (but not functioning. For example, political science studies the laws of the functioning of state institutions, and history studies the laws of their development. Economics studies the laws of the functioning of economic systems, and history studies the laws of their development. Etc.). The function of historical theory is to explain the regularities of the historical process and model its development.

Sometimes the place of theory can be taken by an ideological construct, but this has nothing to do with science.

Since historical cognition and knowledge are forms of social consciousness, their functions (i.e. tasks, methods and results) are socially determined. The functions of historical knowledge include:

The need to form social self-awareness,

Satisfying the need for social education,

The needs for political activity and politics itself,

Needs to explain, foresee and predict the future.

Functions of historical knowledge.

Cognitive - identifying patterns of historical development.

Prognostic - foreseeing the future.

Educational - the formation of civic, moral values ​​and qualities.

Social memory is a way of identifying and orienting society and the individual.

Requirements for specialists graduating from a university.

According to the new State Standard graduate School must train highly qualified specialists who can solve professional problems at the level of the latest achievements of world science and technology and at the same time become cultural, spiritually rich people professionally engaged in creative mental work, development and dissemination of culture.

A specialist of the 21st century must:

1. have good general scientific (general theoretical) training in the natural sciences, which he receives in the course of studying mathematics, physics and other disciplines.

2. have deep theoretical and practical knowledge directly in their specialty - veterinary medicine.

3. have good humanitarian, including historical, training, a high level of general culture, high qualities of a civic personality, a sense of patriotism, hard work, etc. A specialist must gain a fairly complete understanding of philosophy, economic theory, sociology, political science, psychology, and cultural studies.

Historical consciousness and its levels.

Humanitarian training in Russian universities begins with National history. In the course of studying history, historical consciousness is formed, which is one of the important aspects of social consciousness. Historical consciousness is the totality of ideas of society as a whole and its social groups separately, about its past and the past of all humanity.

Like any other forms of social consciousness, historical consciousness has a complex structure. Four levels can be distinguished.

The first (lowest) level of historical consciousness is formed in the same ways as everyday consciousness, based on the accumulation of direct life experience, when a person observes certain events throughout his life, or even takes part in them. The broad masses of the population, as carriers of everyday consciousness at the lowest level of historical consciousness, are not able to bring it into the system, to evaluate it from the point of view of the entire course of the historical process.

The second stage of historical consciousness can be formed under the influence of fiction, cinema, radio, television, theater, painting, and under the influence of acquaintance with historical monuments. At this level, historical consciousness also has not yet transformed into systematic knowledge. The ideas that form it are still fragmentary, chaotic, and not chronologically ordered.

The third stage of historical consciousness is formed on the basis of historical knowledge itself, acquired in history lessons at school, where students first receive ideas about the past in a systematized form.

At the fourth (highest) stage, the formation of historical consciousness occurs on the basis of a comprehensive theoretical understanding of the past, at the level of identifying trends in historical development. Based on the knowledge about the past accumulated by history, generalized historical experience, a scientific worldview is formed, attempts are made to obtain a more or less clear understanding of the nature and driving forces of the development of human society, its periodization, the meaning of history, typology, and models of social development.

The significance of the formation of historical consciousness:

1. It ensures that a certain community of people understands the fact that they constitute a single people, united by a common historical destiny, traditions, culture, language, and a common psychological traits.

2. National-historical consciousness is a defensive factor that ensures the self-preservation of the people. If it is destroyed, then this people will be left not only without a past, without its historical roots, but also without a future. This is a fact long established by historical experience.

3. It contributes to the selection and formation of socially significant norms, moral values, the formation of traditions and customs, the way of thinking and behavior inherent in a given people.