Fernand Braudel philosophy of history position paper (The three time span of History)

The three time span of History

When it comes to history, I believe that structure is truly important factor to have thorough understanding of the events of the past. Narrative in history cannot be a factor that can be denied for its importance but for Fernand Braudel, history is more than a story in fact he is more concerned on the culture, the institutions, and the practices of the past.

According to Braudel, there is something called a social time span of historical analysis in relation to social development. This social time span is categorized into three types.

The first type is called the history of event and Braudel calls it microhistory. This type of time span is fairly obvious. It talks about the events that have occurred such as war, revolution, riot and etc. This time span also includes famous figures who were involved in the events. For instance when we talk about the propaganda movement, famous figure who is in this case Joes Rizal, is considered in the time span of the history of event.

The second type is called the conjuncture. This type of history not like the history of event for it covers 20 to 50 years. This type of history includes inflation, business cycle and economical data of the time period.

Finally the third type is called the history of Longue duree meaning long duration. This is the most important part of Braudel’s philosophy of history probably because it is long therefore it should be valued more than other short events or the conjuncture that happens in every 20 to 50 years.

The time span of Longue duree expands more that 600 to 700 years. And a good example is the rising of a civilization. For a civilization to rise, long period of time should flow. And this takes long duration. Therefore it should be valued more than those histories that happens in short amount of time.

I agree with Braudel’s philosophy of history because history is all about the collected data of the past. And the more it is interpreted while being connected, the more it should be valued as a better interpretation of history for its broadness and richness of sources.

Definition:

Structuralism
1. A method of analyzing phenomena, as in anthropology, linguistics, psychology, or literature, chiefly characterized by contrasting the elemental structures of the phenomena in a system of binary opposition.
2. A school that advocates and employs such a method. (AHD)



Braudel, F. (1982). On history. (S. Matthews, Trans.).
University of Chicago. (Original work published 1969).