Uploaded February 2024 | Updated September 2026, 9 minutes ago
This is the first in a series of six lessons dedicated to the fundamental philosophical issues that revolve around the question of ‘what is history’?’ Over the course of these lessons, I’ll be considering problems such as ‘how can claim we know what happened in the past?’ How is the past used and abused. And ultimately what is the point of studying history?
These lessons are especially designed for students studying Theory of Knowledge (TOK) as part of the IB Diploma programme. But hopefully they will be useful to anyone who has stopped to consider what history really is. This first lesson what history is and what it is not, what IB TOK calls the scope of history. I am going to make 5 points:
1. History is not the past
2. History is both a process and a product.
3. History is made by historians.
4. History is both an art and a (social) science.
5. History is plural.
This is the first in a series of six lessons dedicated to the fundamental philosophical issues that revolve around the question of ‘what is history’?’ Over the course of these lessons, I’ll be considering problems such as ‘how can claim we know what happened in the past?’ How is the past used and abused. And ultimately what is the point of studying history?
These lessons are especially designed for students studying Theory of Knowledge (TOK) as part of the IB Diploma programme. But hopefully they will be useful to anyone who has stopped to consider what history really is. This first lesson what history is and what it is not, what IB TOK calls the scope of history. I am going to make 5 points:
1. History is not the past
2. History is both a process and a product.
3. History is made by historians.
4. History is both an art and a (social) science.
5. History is plural.
