From a good New Yorker essay on the reason to study history:
The real sin that the absence of a historical sense encourages is presentism, in the sense of exaggerating our present problems out of all proportion to those that have previously existed. It lies in believing that things are much worse than they have ever been—and, thus, than they really are—or are uniquely threatening rather than familiarly difficult.
History is by far the most important of the liberal arts / humanities for this reason.
Perhaps it’s our culture’s Liberal orientation that leads us so often to believe that we’re always covering new ground or experiencing something “unprecedented.” Histor...
From a good New Yorker essay on the reason to study history:
The real sin that the absence of a historical sense encourages is presentism, in the sense of exaggerating our present problems out of all proportion to those that have previously existed. It lies in believing that things are much worse than they have ever been—and, thus, than they really are—or are uniquely threatening rather than familiarly difficult.
History is by far the most important of the liberal arts / humanities for this reason.
Perhaps it’s our culture’s Liberal orientation that leads us so often to believe that we’re always covering new ground or experiencing something “unprecedented.” History demonstrates otherwise.