A Preliminary Reflection on the Research Methods of History

Abstract

History is a discipline with a specific object of human activities in time, and "history", as the object of history research, possesses the characteristics of Onceness and Absence, which makes the understanding of the disciplinary object, method, paradigm and characteristics of history inseparable from the methods and achievements of psychological research. The essence of the research object of history is change and development which is the past that is human-centered, motivated and purposeful, and still has influence on today and future, with the endowment of certain value for human beings. History not only needs to verify specific historical truth based on historical records, but also reasonably understand or explain it. Therefore, during the research, researchers should not only apply logical method rationally, but also pay attention to the value and function of understanding method in the historical aspect, and put various methods into rational use under the guidance of historicism principle. Through the long-term development, the research paradigm of history has no longer emphasized the authenticity of historical records, but emphasizes the interpretation of historical sources centered on problems, forming the basic structure of "problem-collection-textual research-understanding-causal analysis-situational insight-expression", and reasonably implements the guiding role of theory in the process of interpretation. The achievement of history research is finally formed with the characteristics of temporality in nature, humanism in goal orientation and narrative in external expression.