EDUCATIONAL VALENCES OF THE HISTORIOGRAPHY MOMENT DIMITRIE CANTEMIR IN SCHOOL

OCTAVIA COSTEA

octavia_costea@yahoo.com

Abstract: In our paper, we develop a new vision on methodological approaches in school related to the Dimitrie Cantemir's personality and his writings. These approaches are seen as a historical analysis of history and also a field of historical literature, both based upon the epistemological path of rationality, perception, memory and testimony. The hypothesis of explorative historiography are facing to the didactic avatars and improve an investigative firm motivation, a history of valuing tangible and real life in students area. On the other hand, we take into account the other convergent approaches, such as historical, hermeneutic and imago logical approaches.

Keywords: education – stakes of historiography – methodological approaches - didactic avatars – historiography hypothesis.

1.Why historiography in school?In the European post-postmodernism, the domains of

phenomenological psychology are: (1) historiography of concepts having an important role in the synergy of scientific groups, but also for the assertion of cultural heritage spirit and identity (2) criticism, covered by the rhetoric and an undifferentiated holism (3) cognition process with specific aspects of our era, learning by analogy and (4) behaviorism, which has its repetitive limits.

The current context learning is evolving on three dimensions: Learning is linked to the market: generates its own social system of

social citizenship focused on security or insecurity schemes, raises the question of access to public services, requires the state to protect private property and extend the work of international corporations, involves shared responsibility between the state and institutions market, has representation in social dialogue and partnership citizenship, new social order restores the value of work ensuring social cohesion.

Learning is linked to globalization: the technical signs has a code universal, linguistic, ideological, cultural and spiritual life are intertwined, the universal and the particular becomes incongruous,

Senior researcher I, Department of Education - “Dimitrie Cantemir” Christian University, Bucharest.

intercultural learning is a comprehensive world of signs and images, the overall identification process, inquiries and cleavages are related to multiple nationality and / or identity; ascendancy in society of non-formal learning content - complementary to informal and formal contents.

Education meets the prospects for democracy: democracy is an ongoing construction project, and, at the same time, an adaptive and a sustained response from the company that develops between ideal and reality, between possibility and efficiency (Cezar Bîrzea, 2000).

Our assumptions to input historiographical moments in school are related to convergence and groups or individual adherence to current values:

- Individual values: freedom, personal expression, property vs. / collective values - relationship state, affiliation, social order;

- Materialistic values: money, productive work, social cohesion, authority, work, welfare state vs.. / post-materialist values: - leisure, voluntary work, education for all, tolerance and reciprocity, interculturalism.

2. Evolution of historiographyThe historiography offers comparison of contrast methods with the

practices of individual disciplines at the international level. The focal points are the basic concepts of historical writing and the possibilities of narrating history and new approaches to actual postmodernism. History of history is sending to the past which is the today key and this is also the key to the future. All sciences tend to pass through three stages: (1) a descriptive phase, (2) a pragmatic phase, and (3) a phase of investigation, proposing hypotheses which develop a unifying theory that can be used to predict upcoming events (Bush and St. Charles. Harter, 1980).

In keeping with the philosophical tradition, the historiography develops from the sources of knowledge as reason, perception, memory and testimony. We talk about the testimony, the purpose of anthropological approach to learning, as a form of knowledge whose the subject, is enrolled in a given learning situation, and it is able to take and to have over expression for learning and life experience gained. The testimony is an integral part of learning, with greater openness for motivation than the information for the subject entered. The relationship object / subject is not only going from romance, it is rooted in Kant even by notorious separating from empirical psychology.

Goethe's idea (of Elective Affinities) that the physical elements that build the new, higher ones entities, meets the scientific form of Wundt's experimental psychology. The Wundt's methodological point of creative synthesis form is the core of this system as a whole. The physical Gestaltungen is always the result of a mixture of ideal, simple

feelings and pure sensations. In natural philosophy, we have a form of alchemy that is based on antagonistic elements. All higher forms of physical processes are always co-determined by the values that are not contained in the physical constituent elements. Analysis of historical and cultural signifiers is important for the history of ideas. In modern history of phenomenological psychology, these types of studies are not common but are present, usually, following a theory developed.

On the other hand, both children and adults receive comprehensive education from environment, family and society, structured or unstructured. For children, the learning potential can be supplemented by a variety of experiences outside the school, by which are facing a series of personal educational and societal needs.

3. Historical approachThe learning and understanding process – in its background and

evolution features - is the subject of a field of study or profession that can provide insight into organizational culture, current trends, and future possibilities. The historical research method applies to all areas of study as includes: origins, growth, theories, personalities, crisis, etc. The quantitative and qualitative variables can be used in collecting historical information. Once it is decided to conduct historical research, there are measures to be followed make conducting historical research in six steps: (1) recognition of the historical problem or identify a need for some historical knowledge, (2) collecting relevant information about this issue or topic as possible, (3) the hypothesis that explains the relationship between historical factors, (4) rigorous collection and verification of authenticity of information and its sources, (5) the selection, organization and analysis of collected samples, (6) recording the findings in a significant narrative (St. Charles Bush. Harter, 1980).

In information science, there is a wide range of topics that may be considered for conducting historical research. For example, a researcher can choose to answer questions about the development of the school, academic or public library, the growth of technology and the benefits / problems that it brings, developing methods for conservation, very known persons in the various fields, geographical, demographic or library statistics,. There are a variety of places to get historical information. The primary sources are the most popular historical research. The primary resources are the primary information account. Finding and evaluating primary historical data are an exercise specific for detective work. This involves logic, intuition, perseverance, and common sense. Some examples of primary documents are personal diaries, eyewitness accounts of events and oral histories. The secondary sources of information are account books, mediated testimonies of people attending the event, indirect sociological

analysis of literary texts. Secondary resources can be very useful for a scientist who can expand understanding of a subject and provide extensive bibliographic information. In any type of historical research, there are issues to consider.

Three principles are taken into account when conducting historical research:

1. We consider deviations with the information held by historians themselves:

a. This applies, in particular, to qualitative research. Suppose that the letters and diaries of famous women are relevant to the question of research on the feminist movement, and also those that can locate relevant examples;

b. The quantitative facts may also be biased in the types of collected statistics or how this information was interpreted by the researcher;

2. There are many factors that can contribute to the shaping of historical episodes;

3. The evidences should not be unilaterally considered.

For example, within the primary biographical sources related to Dimitrie Cantemir we discover an interesting psychoanalytic point: ignorance of the book of Constantin Cantemir Voda he had an unexpected result: his son, Dimitrie, became a scholar of European fame.From secondary sources, we can form a sum of perceptions of time: Moldavian chroniclers – country man, Moldovan respecting laws; Neculce - born from down people; Voltaire: he apologizes from Antioch for malice concerning their exotic origin.

4. Hermeneutical approachIn the absence of a coherent historiographical thinking, George

Calinescu strengthens the idea of incompleteness and unilateral interpretation which become poor the historical and cultural signifiers in the development of ideas in the work of Dimitrie Cantemir:Istoria ieroglifica (Ieroglific History) of D. Cantemir was twisted on all sides for its documentary substrate, declaring otherwise that this novel is ,remarkably, illegible (G. Calinescu, 1982, p. 3).

The historiography allows multiple converging strategies of interpretation:

Formalism: to find meaning directly in relation to the form and text ideas,

Deconstruction: relationships between text ideas for how ideas are expressed, Semiotics: codes or text intelligible rendering approaches,

Historical context criticism: the text is contained in a framework of ideas and assumptions taken from the historic era,

Literary - history criticism: the text finds its particular signifiers related to the profile of other cultural activities or genre,

Biography criticism: refers to signifiers text in the terms of author,

Political criticism: ideas in the text meet explicitly the political ideology,

Psychoanalytic criticism: adopts systems of explanation suggested by the psychoanalytic literature in order to interpret the text signifiers,

Archetypal criticism: draws cultural and psychological myths that arise from meanings of text,

Criticism of phenomenological perception: analyzes individual steps of text experience readers, finds his / her own purpose of the act read.

5.Imagology approachThe imagology of objects consists in a presentation of certain items

significantly chosen, but also in a choice of leaving other items available through absence. The dimension of meaning is semiotic, the present elements in the image can be understood as public and the absent ones as discreet or secret. Every being is existing in one direction or is carrying out, inevitably, is showing something, because even the existence is a choice of a particular type of creation.

There is the idea that the image is a kind of pseudo-reality. Such speeches are quite general in journalism, they are a type of reasoning in the rhetoric of Plato's metaphysics. This critical discourse is epistemologically oriented to the consumerism and it is often applied to persons who are in a position to provide / receive something, for example, a columnist, a journalist investigating the truth behind the scenes. On the other hand, there seems not to be an uncontroversial speech, because that speech is related to the creator of the image. The image, in this rhetoric, is indeed seen that the image related to customer needs and desires, not image of reality. In the respect of this idea, the brand portraits of Dimitrie Cantemir are scholar or army commander printed on postage stamp or bills - but they have great movement in time and space (see below).

Cantemir picture on a postage stamp from Moldova

Cantemir image on a postal souvenir sheet of Moldova

USSR postage stamp, 1973

Dimitrie Cantemir's representation on the bill of 100 rubles in Transnistria, 2007

In a psychological sense, it is useful that the image to be understood as a cognitive structure or schema of knowledge as an informal theory of an object – it anticipates what kind of object is usually it. It is, in a sense, a projection into the future that meets the past and everyday experience. The image is irreversibly bound to the meaning and communication through time. The objects representing Dimitrie Cantemir meet the needs of communication at distance and the exchange market. The epistemological treatment of needs and desires (eg., talking about the true and false needs) lead to a problematic line of argument which may have roots in historiography and in its new hypotheses for exploration.

6. Didactic approach

6.1. Case study - organizational parameters1. Preparatory stageThe case studies will be distributed, to all groups, early in the year,

so that every group must have a single case study: bibliography, specific task to explore the theme, documentaries;

2. Elaboration: projects developed by groups of 4-6 students (1-2 group for each case study), investigation;

3. Introducing the theme: an overview of the topic, pasting portions of illustrative texts / documents / materials, discussion / debate in the classroom;

4. Assessment: self-evaluation of group, assessment by students; assessment by teacher.

6.2. Content analysisThe analysis is a technical research of objective description,

systematic and quantitative of the content of communications. The content analysis is a tool for investigation focused on the intern actual content and contextual characteristics. It is used to determine the presence of certain words, concepts, themes, phrases, characters in texts or sets of texts and quantify their presence in an objective manner. The text can be defined broadly, belonging to the genera and species of literature, as books, book chapters, essays, interviews, discussions, newspaper headlines and articles, historical documents, speeches, conversations, advertising, theater, informal conversation or any language occurrence of communication. To perform a content analysis on a text, the text is divided by category to manage a variety of levels - word, meaning the word, phrase, sentence, or theme - and then is examined by using basic methods: conceptual analysis or relational analysis. The results are then used to make inferences about the text messages (1), about a writer, (2), about the public (3), about the culture and about their time (4). For example, the content analysis may indicate relevant features, such as intentionality, distortions, prejudices, etc. The content analysis may be a product of the electronic era. Conceptual analysis can be regarded as establishing the existence and frequency of concepts in a text. Relational analysis is based on conceptual analysis by examining the relationships between concepts in a text.

In conceptual analysis, a concept is chosen for examination and the number of instances in the recorded text. In order to limit the subjectivity in definition of certain concepts, the specialized dictionaries are used, for example, the ethnographic approach Moldaviae Descriptio. As the most other research methods, the conceptual analysis begins with the identification of questions for investigation and extract text or text selection. Once chosen, the text should be codified into manageable content categories. The decoding process is, in fact, a selective reduction, which is the central idea in the content analysis. By breaking down the content materials in meaningful and relevant units of information - some features of the message can be analyzed and interpreted. As mentioned above, the analysis is based on a relational conceptual analysis by examining the relationship between concepts in a text. For relational analysis, it is important to decide what kind of concept will be / will be explored in the analysis. The relational analysis process has reached a high degree of computer automation. The major problem of investigation of conceptual analysis is the contested nature of the findings of inferential procedures. The question is what level of involvement is permissible, that the conclusions drawn from data or due to other phenomena are explainable..

6.3. Discourse analysisThe discourse analysis can be characterized as a way of

approaching and thinking about a problem. In this sense, the discourse analysis is a way to challenge the basic assumptions of quantitative and qualitative methods of investigation, allows access to the ontological and epistemological assumptions behind a project of historical literature, in our case. In other words, the discourse analysis allows to reveal the hidden motivations behind a text or behind a choice of research methods to interpret this text. Or the critical discourse analysis is a deconstructivist reading and interpretation of a problem or text. The postmodern theories conceptualise every interpretation of reality and thus reality itself as a text. Every text is conditioned and enrolled in a speech. The discourse analysis allows us to understand the conditions behind a specific problem and to realize that the essence of the problem and its resolution lies in its own assumptions. The discourse analysis aims at a comprehensive picture of the problem and ourselves about this problem. The discourse analysis is aimed to provide a greater awareness of hidden motivations and the entered subject, therefore, it allows us to solve concrete problems and not by providing unequivocal answers, but by ontological and epistemological questions.

The discourse analysis is, generally, perceived as a product of the postmodern period. The postmodern theories do not provide a great view of the world, in other words, the postmodern period is distinguished from other periods (Renaissance, Enlightenment, modernism, etc..), In the belief that there is no sense that the world is inherently fragmented and heterogeneous and that any sense of belief system is simply subjective interpretation. The postmodern theories, therefore, offers several lectures aimed at "deconstructing" the concepts of belief-systems or, in general, social values and assumptions. Some of the theories most frequently used are those of Jacques Derrida (deconstruction of the term), Michel Foucault, Julia Kristeva, Jean-Francois Lyotard and Fredric Jameson. The discourse analysis is the application of critical thinking and exposure to social situations prevailing in the social policy and interpretations of the world, belief systems etc.. The discourse analysis can be applied to any text that contains a variety of problems or situations. Because the discourse analysis is, in essence, an interpretation and deconstruction through reading, there are specific guidelines to follow. It makes use of the theories of Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Julia Kristeva, Fredric Jameson or other postmodernist thinkers and critics.

The aim of discourse analysis is not to provide precise answers, but to expand our personal horizons and motivations. The discourse analysis focuses on the existence and message of these texts located in a historical and social context, for example, the power of images.

The practical outcome is to raise awareness for the strengths and weaknesses of each speech and creating prerequisites for an informed debate. Although this debate will not be resolved, it allows the correction of subjective side and the inclusion of peripheral aspects of the debate and discourse analysis.

The discourse analysis or the critique is always a matter of interpretation. Since there is no reliable data provided by discourse analysis, reliability and validity of research, findings depend on the strength and logic of one's arguments. Even the best arguments are the object of deconstructivist reading built, fit and counter-interpretations. The validity of critical analysis is therefore based on the quality of rhetoric. Despite this fact, the well founded arguments remain over time authoritative and practical applications. The discourse analysis can lead to changes in practices of interpretation, but does not provide definitive answers, it is an insight / knowledge are based on the ongoing debate and argument. For example, Istoria ieroglifica (Ieroglifica history) is written in Romanian at Constantinople (1703 - 1705) and is a political and social novel that captures fight for the throne of Romanian noblemen of the country - the philosophical dispute between two principles, symbolized by Unicorn and Raven. It is perceived by most readers as a satire, but the subject may be entered into discourse interpretation. To this, Dimitrie Cantemir adds thoughts, proverbs and verses taken from the popular poetry which gives a dynamic character, with marks of orality.

6.4. Structural AnalysisThe structuralism, from which derives the structural analysis, is the

methodological principle according to which the human culture consists of systems where a change in any element produces changes in others. Four basic types of activity are seen as critical or structuralist theory: the use of language as a structural model, search for universal features in word or actions in texts, explanation of how meaning is possible and the denial of post-structuralist sense of purpose. In literature, where the structuralist and post-structuralism has gained a special importance, the structuralism seeks to explain the underlying structures of literary texts - in terms of a grammar modeled on the language or in terms of principle. Ferdinand de Saussure believes that the meaning of each word depends on its place in the total system of language. The French theorist Roland Barthes characterizes the structuralism in terms of reconstruction work of an object, so as to show the operating rules (functions) of that object. The structure is therefore actually a simulacrum of the object, it is a targeted one, interested, since the imitated object makes something appears which remained invisible in the object or, if one prefers, natural unintelligible. For Jean-Marie Benoist, a analysis is structural, if and only if, it displays the contents as a model, namely, if you can

isolate a set of formal elements and relations in terms of which it is possible to support not enter the meaning of data content.

In other words, the structuralism is not concerned with the contents of a text or any other system, but rather, it examines and explores the underlying structures of the text or of the system which are possible the content. One of the basic principles of structuralism is that the form defines the content ("form is content"). According to Claude Levy-Strauss, the structuralism and other thinkers in linguistics, in anthropology, in psychology, in biology, etc., the human mind is structured to operate in certain ways that determines how we think and act, regardless of the discipline in which we operate, the culture in which we live or the language in which we speak. He believes that there is an innate component of human being, genetically transmitted, and that the mechanism established to act as a force structure is one of the basic premises of structuralism. Although this view is far from a consensus between structuralist thinkers, it leads to the idea that there are not permanent structures in our mind that determines who we are and what we can be. In that sense, this point of view of structuralism is based on the structuralist principles of the human mind. The structural analysis can be used to study any type of system, text or material. A disadvantage is that the search for the final structures can stifle the innovation and the highlighting of added values. Not to mention its limited nature on human psychology and interaction.

The structural analysis can be used in Cartea ştiinţei muzicii (The Music science book) (Kitab-i-Musik). This book is written in Turkish. This is one of the first works of the scholar prince, conceived during his life in Istanbul. This paper is a deep study of Ottoman laic and religious music, and it reveals the importance of religious music its influence by Byzantine church music. The study also refers to the Ottoman composers, including illustrations of trends and themes, as exemplified by a presentation of the notes and ranges of notes within a system. The end of the study is accompanied by a collection of songs of various compositions, and also a total of 20 own creations. It is he first work dedicated to music, conceived in a scholarly style. Due on this work, Dimitrie Cantemir entered into the musical history as the founder of Turkey's laic and religious music and also that he studied the religious music known under the name Cantemiroglu (Cantemir's son).

7. Didactic avatars and historiographical assumptions It is necessary to acknowledge openly that the didactics often

search the established approaches, stereotypical, and so the transformation of a text becomes unpredictable in the evolution of ideas, figuratively speaking, it becomes an avatar, whether it is a unilateral interpretation, whether it is an eclectic interpretation and assumed, specific to the didactics. The introduction of historiographical assumptions is aimed at the connections between imagination of

literary work and dynamic reality of students, that, through increased motivation and pragmatism, we strive to enrich and to build on.

We give below some examples:Didactic avatars Historiographical

assumptionsDivanul sau Gâlceava înţeleptului cu lumea sau Giudeţul sufletului cu trupul (The Divan or bickering wise with the world or justice of body and soul) written in Romanian and printed

in Iasi in 1698 first Romanian philosophical

work medieval disputes about time,

soul, nature or conscience, human superiority over the other creatures

superiority of the spiritual life of the human biological condition

philosophical concepts and philosophical terminology

Evolution and analysis of time perception

Comparisons between philosophical concepts such as soul, consciousness, etc..

Sources of epoch The evolution of philosophical

terminology Etc.

The mysterious picture of sacrosante science, 1700:: philosophical work integration of physics into a

theist balance between scientific

determinism and medieval metaphysics

interest in astrology and occult sacred sciences, specific for Renaissance

The dynamics of ideas Sources of epoch Etc.

Istoria ieroglifică (The Ieroglifica History): written in Romanian at

Constantinople (1703 - 1705) socio-political novel noblemen parties fight for the

throne of from Romanian countries

philosophical dispute between two principles, symbolized by Unicorn and Raven

thoughts, proverbs and verses taken

from the popular poetry

Family relationships at the local level

Networks of political influence Bloodlines Structure of aristocratic

groups Comparison with the

historiography of European nobility

Istoria Imperiului Otoman (Istoria creşterii şi descreşterii curţii

Historical and comparative study

otomane) (History of the Ottoman Empire (History of growth and decline in Ottoman court): it is written in Latin (Historia

incrementorum atque decrementorum Aulae Othomanicae) between 1714 and 1716

history of the Ottoman Empireanalysis of the causes that lead to its dissolution

the work was translated and published in English, French and German

Analysis of causes Etc.

Hronicul vechimei a româno-moldo-vlahilor (Chronicle of the Romanian-Moldovan-old Vlach: firstly, it is written in Latin but

then translated into Romanian by author (1719 - 1722)

treats the history of our origins to the dismounting

supports chronicles idea: common origin of all Romanians

the author consulted more than 150 Romanian and foreign sources in Latin, Greek, Polish and Russian

Historical Study Comparison with European

historiography of beginnings Etc.

Descriptio Moldaviae (Description of Moldova), written in Latin (1714-1716), while Dimitrie Cantemir was living in Russia, at the request of the Berlin Academy.Descriptio Moldaviae comprises three parts:The first part Moldova's geographical

description, mountains, plains and waters, first map of Moldova

description of flora and fauna, fairs and towns over time

Part Two political and administrative

organization of the country: form of the state, chair election or removal of the kings customs

celebrating the enthronement of the kings or their chase, their engagement, weddings, funerals.

Social Studies to help students to find connections for democratic citizenship

Studies of experiences in social real and meaningful field for students

Studies focused on anthropology, civics, economics, geography, history, sociology

Increased interaction between students and learning environments

Economy of investigation area Local community connections Investigation fairs Investigation of urban and

rural areas Connections between past and

present Learning journey Comparisons in the European

The last partMoldovan language, the used letters, which were, at first, in Latin, as an example to all other peoples whose language is still composed as ones of the Romanian language, and then replaced with the Slavonic letters ethnographic observations and folklore

cultural space The evolution of society,

culture, science, technology

In conclusion, we believe that all methodological approaches for the interpretation described above in relation to personality and Dimitrie Cantemir's work have their place defined not unilaterally, but in admitted connections for teaching practice. But the introduction of historiographical assumptions in exploring path of the work and personality of great scholar leads students to an investigative firm motivation, valuing the history in their real and tangible area.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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