History...

[fajrdrako]

"It is history that teaches us to hope." - Robert E. Lee

But doesn't it also teach us to despair?

I think the lesson of history is that it teaches us nothing. Its meaning, like the meaning of life, is not what it gives us, but what we take from it.

Comments

[meret.livejournal.com]

I think the lesson of history is that it teaches us nothing.

I don't agree. I don't think you can understand the present if you don't know the past.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Oh, I am not saying that history isn't worth studying - and that we can't learn an infinite number of things from it - I've devoted a lot of my life and all my post-grad studies to it, out of sheer love and passion. I believe history is the queen and summit of all studies: sociology, psychology, linguistics, biology, geography, archaeology -. Everything. You don't need to sell me on history.

What I mean is, history doesn't teach unless we're willing to learn.

And if the world was willing to learn, we wouldn't have people dropping bombs on other people, or destroying the fertile land, or chopping down all the trees, or otherwise abusing the planet and each other.

Because if history teaches us anything, it's that these acts don't lead to anything good.

Which is why I mention despair. There are a lot of examples of failed civilizations, suffering, and destruction. Luckily, there are examples also of enlightenment and growth.

But you have to be discriminating, and history takes as much intelligence to understand as science does, or engineering, or psychology.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

A good answer, that.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

History is my favourite fandom.

[dejla.livejournal.com]

Yes, but it is true that those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I've never been sure I understood or believed that. Sure, things happen the same all the time - good or bad. I don't know of any example where a knowledge of past history actually made people act differently to avoid calamity. Can you think of such a case?

People act pragmatically, according to their experience. They learn from mistakes. But I'm not sure there's any predestination based on knowledge.

After all, there are many thousands of years of human history no one knows anything about - but we presumably aren't repeating that over and over.

Or maybe we are. It's unprovable!

[dejla.livejournal.com]

There was a tribe of indigenous people in the area of the Asian tsunami. Their elders remembered the stories saying that when the sea went out like that, it was time to get to high ground. So they did. And they survived.

On the other hand, how many times have people planted again on volcanic ground?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

That's the problem with life - it's so hard to cover all the angles!

And one thing about old stories: how do you distinguish between the no-longer-useful myths that lead us the wrong way, and the ones pointing to the wise paths we should follow?

[dejla.livejournal.com]

I guess we just have to question everything (maybe that's why I'm so tired!) until we find what works and what doesn't.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Or just... keep thinking about things.