Exploring Time Measurement by Historians: Annales School Analysis

This essay explores the methods historians use to measure time, with a particular focus on the Annales School. It examines how historians have shifted from scientific approaches to understanding time as evolutionary and universal. The essay discusses the complexities historians face in breaking down time and the cyclical movements in economic and social history. It also addresses the challenges of intuiting time and the reliance on natural time limits. The evolution of time measurement, from chronometry to sundials and mechanical clocks, is analyzed, highlighting its impact on social organization and economic manufacturing. The essay references key figures like Braudel and explores the preference of Christian historians to relate all previous history to a single universal story. Desklib provides access to this essay and many other study resources.

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Theories and methods of history

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Time Measured by Historians
According to1, historians initiated an overtly scientific history thus embarking on new
challenges. The historians developed new forms of historical knowledge by linking science as
well as history. History turned out to be a profession during the mid-nineteenth century as it took
an up-to-date form by being organized as well as disciplined. The new concept of time has been
drawn from the nineteenth-century modernization of history. Time has been made evolutionary
as well as universal by the western historians. This in turn displayed all the individuals as well as
structures in each epoch along its line. Time turned out to be sequential under which the
historians made sure about development by progressing towards modern western time. Time has
been assumed by the historians to be same for every individual. In other words, it has been
considered as a universal continuum that is experienced by every individual in the similar
fashion. The historians has initiated a new way to measure time that foreshadowed as well as
reinforced the scientific idea of universal time. According to2, time has led to additional
complexity for the historians. The historians regard refusal in every time as the culmination of an
enduring hesitation period. All historical work is regarded with breaking down time. It is related
with choosing among its chronological realities as opined by the conscious inclinations as well as
exclusions. The new economic as well as social history initiates a cyclical movement in the front
position of the research that is committed to the time span. Time has been enthralled by the
hallucination as well as the reality that is related to fall and rise in cyclical movement. According
to3, it is difficult to intuited time. In other words, if a historian brings back past events, through
language in the minds of the individuals, that might create an intuition with the reader. The
historians believe that individuals depend on time limits that are given by nature previously. The
daytime as well as seasons acts as a guideline forces that initiates self-organization of human
societies. They believe that it is not possible to eradicate the time prerequisites of our live.
Initially, the historians measured time by inserting chronometry in the human context. This was
1 Hunt, Lynn, and Margaret Jacob. "Telling the Truth about History." (1994): 244.
2 Braudel, Fernand, and Immanuel Wallerstein. "History and the social sciences: the longue
durée." Review (Fernand Braudel Center) (2009): 171-203.
3 Hunt, Lynn, and Margaret Jacob. "Telling the Truth about History." (1994): 244.

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followed by sundial that made it possible to objectify natural time. This was followed by
mechanical clock and later by pendulum clock that helped to reshape daily lifestyle through a
quantified units of time. This pervaded social organization as well as economic manufacturing.
The historians also employed diverse sequences of numbers that was referred to as objectively
equal dates that dealt with similar natural time. The Christian historians preferred to related all
the previous history to a single universal story.

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References
Braudel, Fernand, and Immanuel Wallerstein. "History and the social sciences: the longue
durée." Review (Fernand Braudel Center) (2009): 171-203.
Hunt, Lynn, and Margaret Jacob. "Telling the Truth about History." (1994): 244.