Why History?

Why is history important? Things never happen exactly the same way twice. Historians cannot come up with laws of nature like physicists do (at least I assume that contrary views like Hegel’s are now discredited enough to be ignored). Even physicists cannot tell you what the world will look like in 10 years. That goes in spades for economists.

History can give you perspective. Just personal history, getting old, can give one perspective. Of course, you can become a cranky old ideologue.  When we gain knowledge about the crazy stuff that has happened in the past and the complexity of events, you can better realize all the possible futures that are out there. That said, those giants who understand a historical period, say J.H. Elliott about Spain or Tony Judt about postwar Europe, have a breadth of knowledge that one could never equal unless he were starting young and was very very smart. These guys know the events, the characters, the folk tales, the art...pretty much all the elements that let you understand a culture.

So what is one to do in light of our profound ignorance and lack of capability? As a good friend said last night, everyone can do something positive to make the world a better place. When I was younger, I was an idealist left-wing lawyer out to bend the government to do the right thing through class-action lawsuits. When it became clear that such attempts were futile, that the government didn’t really change much no matter how many lawsuits we won, what was left? Well, there are lots of individuals in whose lives I can make a profound difference. Obviously, there are people who make much larger contributions. But if most of us make some positive contribution, the world will more likely be a better place in the future, just as it is a better place for us in general now than it was for our ancestors.