The materials in this book serve as a sample of intellectual history. It examines the development of historical studies in the country. Two of them revolve around the figure of Jaime Jaramillo Uribe, the dean of modern historiography in Colombia, an analyst who showed that ideas are collective representations capable of guiding the actions of men and women in the most diverse scenarios of social life. The chapters start from the assumption that history is a social science, a discipline that develops following the demands of research assisted by the spirit of precision and empirical fidelity. Amidst these discussions, the work explores the utility of history, 'its teachings, its practical and applied aspects'