Question

Why is history considered to be a scientific discipline?
A. For looking and collecting evidence.
B. For examining the evidence.
C. For putting all evidence together.
D. All of the above.

Answer 1

Hint: The scientific study of a discipline means one based on verifiable, empirical and logical sequence of knowledge development in a particular field. To this effect, there has been a long debate on the scientific capabilities of the disciplines of humanities even though the different approaches and methodologies for research have been largely established for various disciplines.

Complete answer: The positivist approach to the study of any discipline was brought in by August Comte who perceived empirical dealings of subjects to be the only way of constructing a genuine discipline. The scientific approach’s meaning has changed over time and doesn’t dwell on being verifiable through a series of experiments only. A justified use of a sustainable methodology for research of a subject can be said to make it scientific. History is a study of human civilisation’s past and is documented with the help of various archaic, archaeological evidence as well as oral traditions, stories, religious scriptures and cultural specificity. Though these are widely differentiating factors, they do not make historiography any less scientific.

Let’s look at the options and try to understand why is history a scientific discipline,
Option A- Evidence the most important precedent to having any information about our past. A fossil, a monument, changes in geography, manuscripts, folklores etc. are all evidence which need to be studied through various sciences and literary methods. This can be compared to mapping the evolution of spices in biology by collecting their fossils or through genetic experimentation. So, this is a correct option.
Option B- After collecting evidence, they account for what must have existed in the past. The evidence is put to test against the verifiable knowledge, traditions and customs, material findings etc. So this makes the study of history as scientific as that of chemistry being pursued through evidence in a chemical reaction by knowing the chemical properties of the elements reacting. Thus, this option is correct.
Option C- Putting all evidence together is to create a flow in the discipline. By knowing it in a coherent sense, more study can be done on the basic foundations being built on it. This can be compared to knowing that there is day and there is night as a basis for physics. When this has been established, one can go to understand the rotation and revolution of earth around the sun and there on, to the speed of light and the set up of the universe. Thus, this option is correct.
Option D- Since all the above three options are correct, this is the final correct option.

Thus, the correct answer is option (D).

Note: Prior to social science and humanities being separated as their own discipline, the study of these subjects was seen as a sub-strata of the sciences. Thus, political science and history were considered streams of science before they were set up as separate disciplines themselves.