Why do historians study the past?

Historians look for causes and effects that help to explain how and why events happened. They try to see the past through the eyes of the people who lived it. When they study the past, historians ask themselves questions. The answers to the questions help historians draw conclusions about the past.

Are historians accounts necessarily subjective?

Because certain events happened so long ago, and because sometimes the evidence is incomplete, different historians have different approaches and views about what happened in the past. This is the subjective nature of history. One historian claims an event happened a certain way, while another disagrees completely.

Is personal bias fully avoidable?

Can we eliminate bias? No, but a realistic aim is to try and find ways to mitigate bias and so avoid distortion in decision making. Research from Harvard found that the effects of personal interventions such as awareness raising at a personal level are positive, but short-lived.

How do historians know what they know?

The historian works by examining primary sources — texts, artifacts, and other materials from the time period. From comparing these sources and evaluating them in context, the historian develops interpretations, often in light of the interpretations of other historians.

What are ToK concepts?

Those 12 concepts are Evidence, Certainty, Truth, Interpretation, Power, Justification, Explanation, Objectivity, Perspective, Culture, Values and Responsibility.

What is a real life situation ToK?

Real-Life Situations (RLS) are fundamental to the ToK presentation. This essentially means that a good presentation will launch from a compelling situation drawn from the real world.

Is bias inevitable in the production of knowledge object?

Now to answer the question; is bias inevitable in the production of knowledge? The answer, simply, is no. Bias can never be eliminated, but we can do our best to avoid it. Even if we consciously attempt to be unbiased, our conscious mind will always have its preferences.

What is a tertiary historical source?

Tertiary sources are sources that identify and locate primary and secondary sources. These can include bibliographies, indexes, abstracts, encyclopedias, and other reference resources; available in multiple formats, i.e. some are online, others only in print.

Are some types of knowledge more useful than others ToK objects?

Various types of knowledge are all useful in their way. Both ways help in finding the answer but doing the experiment would be more useful since it would give a better result, therefore the type of knowledge that would be more useful is posteriori knowledge.

How is current knowledge shaped by its historical development?

Historians want to gather and produce knowledge of the recorded past. The object of historical study is very different in nature from other areas of knowledge. Although historians base their findings on evidence, the interpretation of this evidence is key to the creation of historical knowledge.