Prehistory

Assessments for the Workshop One
Angel Ramirez
University of Turabo SUAGM

Assessments for Workshop One
The objective of this assessment is to know the definitions of, humanity, culture, prehistory, history and civilization. Also know the difference between prehistory and history. And finally, how important it was to mankind the discovery of fire.

Definitions.

Humanities: Disciplinesof the humanities such as philosophy, history, and literary studies offer models and methods for addressing dilemmas and acknowledging ambiguity and paradox. They can help us face the tension between the concerns of individuals and those of groups and promote civil and informed discussion of conflicts, placing current issues in historical perspective. They also give voice to feeling and artisticshape to experience, balancing passion and rationality and exploring issues of morality and value. The study of the humanities provides a venue in which the expression of doddering interpretations and experiences can be recognized and areas of common interest explored.
As defined by Lyn Maxwell White (1997)

Culture:
Edward Tylor (1871):

Culture ... is that complex whole which includesknowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society. (p.1)

Max Weber (1904)

We have designated as "cultural sciences" those disciplines which analyze the phenomena of life in terms of their cultural significance. The significance of a configuration of cultural phenomena and the basis of this significance cannot however bederived and rendered intelligible by a system of analytical laws (Gesetzesbegriffen), however perfect it may be, since the significance of cultural events presupposes a value orientation towards these events. The concept of culture is a value concept. Empirical reality becomes "culture" to us because and insofar as we relate it to value ideas. It includes those segments and only those segments ofreality which have become significant to us because of this value relevance. Only a small portion of existing concrete reality is colored by our value conditioned interest and it alone is significant to us. It is significant because it reveals relationships which are important to us due to their connection with our values. (p.76)

The focus of attention on reality under the guidance of values whichlend it significance and the selection and ordering of the phenomena which are thus affected in the light of their cultural significance is entirely different from the analysis of reality in terms of laws and general concepts. (p.77)

(from The methodology of the social sciences. New York: The Free Press. 1949)

Prehistory:
Prehistory, more precisely, is the period from which no known writtenrecords (including later copies) have been preserved. When did prehistory begin? People disagree. If human prehistory is defined, as presumably it should be, as the pre-literate history of Homo sapiens.

History:
History is often used as a generic term for information about the past, such as in "geologic history of the Earth". When used as the name of a field of study, history refers to thestudy and interpretation of the record of human societies. The term history comes from the Greek "ιστορία" historia, "an account of one's inquiries", and shares that etymology with the English word story.
Historians use many types of sources, including written or printed records, interviews (oral history), and archaeology. Different approaches may be more common in some periods than others, and thestudy of history has its fads and fashions (see historiography). The events that occurred prior to human records are known as prehistory.
Knowledge of history is often said to encompass both knowledge of past events and historical thinking skills.
A criticism of history as a field has been that it has too narrowly focused on political events or on individuals. Deeper more significant changes...