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Does history matter?

Should we just move on and focus on the future?
In my opinion it does matter. There's many lessons to be learned from mistakes humanity has made in the past. They should be remembered so that they're not repeated in the future.
Original post by just_fake_news
Should we just move on and focus on the future?

Of course it matters
Original post by just_fake_news
Should we just move on and focus on the future?


Sounds like your homework.

Yes it matters very much.

Does everything you did, every relationship you had and anything you achieved before today matter to you?
I was just wondering what you thought.... I personally think it does matter.
As a student of history I can say it doesn’t matter enough to most people. If we looked back more as well as forward there would be less repeats of mistakes made in history. So it does matter but most people don’t give it the respect it deserves.
I think the question 'Does history matter?' could be answered by refering to the significance of inductive logic. There are of course many difficulties related to inductive logic, great many arguments made about it, but the important thing is, it can work great large part of the time, and if it didn't work, there is counter-inductive logic that would work then. So the fact that there is something but deductive logic, that can give us some useful clues, is already an answer to the question.

The problem with history, is that it's very complicated, and people generally don't care or even when they care they are often unable to get a 'proper' set of data on particular events, which results in
As a result, people often draw very wrong conclusions from history. For example, I often hear and see an argument that societies or states must be built on religion, because without religion societies or states are much worse and the case of USSR proves that. - First of all, people raising such arguments don't understand that a single, ten or even 20 examples make a very poor argument.
The second thing is, you could easily find very specific features of Bolshevik and Maoist ideologies, that were identical with features of most if not all major religions, and those features were crucial for existence of said ideologies, their ability to promote themselves and to last while slaughtering whole society, and in the end you could come to a conclusion, that said ideologies were actually very similar to religion in general, only they were younger and had their gods living on Earth, walking around other humans. Then people can draw exactly the opposite conclusions from the same history.


Original post by just_fake_news
Should we just move on and focus on the future?


It's just impossible, because any progress is dependant on the past, and to make progress you need to know the past, at least not to ram through the same doors over and over again.
Also the Philosophy of Science for example, that has been providing many important clues for the development of scientific methodology in decades of the XXth century, largely used historical data to draw these conclusions.
Original post by username4344212
Should we just move on and focus on the future?


Being focus with one eye on the future is good, the other one should be used to learn from the mistakes people before us did in the past just to prevent them in our presence. :smile:
Reply 8
Avatar for woahhew
woahhew
7
I think we should refer to history in order to avoid mistakes, but I do think moving on and focusing on the future is more important than any aspect of history other than learning from it.
Reply 9
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Jjj90
19
Original post by username4344212
Should we just move on and focus on the future?

Once when I was a child a friend of mine told me that If I put my arms though my legs and he pulls on them from behind I would do a really cool summersault, naturally I slammed face first into the tarmac. Being able to recal this event in my own personal 'history' has allowed me go through life without ever again slamming my face into tarmc in the same way. A metaphor.

You learn to read and walk and talk and socialise when you are a child, without your past you would be a blubbering stumbling slurring wreck. And so it is with the human race.
Reply 10
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NJA
20
People say "oh yes it matters" because they know that is the right answer, but in reality history only matters to you if it makes a change in your behaviour.

I draw inspiration from people of The Faith who in times past used it to transform themselves or situations . I face the same opportunity to escape a world that surrounds me in ordinariness.
Original post by username4344212
Should we just move on and focus on the future?


If we don't learn from our history we risk repeating it.
Original post by chooseanother
In my opinion it does matter. There's many lessons to be learned from mistakes humanity has made in the past. They should be remembered so that they're not repeated in the future.


Although I agree with your point, don't you think that remembering again and again might prevent people to make progress sometimes?
Whilst moving on and focusing on the future is important, history is definitely important as it brings you back to your roots and how different things were in the past
Reply 14
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BogdanK
8
I haven’t read the comments and it looks like
my own might be a bit irrelevant since this forum is rather old but I thought I’d say why I think history is important.

I think to say that history is irrelevant and that we should focus on the future is, in many ways, the same as claiming all subjects except for maths and sciences are irrelevant. All phenomenon that aren’t the result of specific natural laws and patterns, in some form or another find their articulation, development and genesis through a historical medium. All principles in sociology, politics, anthropology, even economics (to a certain extent) cannot exist without the sequences of human interaction that provided both context and substance for the creation of these theories, principles, -isms, etc. The reason why history is important for the future is because it provides a holistic perception (which is the only one that can be useful) of the various organizational principles that can be used in the reformation, hopefully for the better, of society.
Reply 15
Avatar for Napp
Napp
22
Original post by username4344212
Should we just move on and focus on the future?


Ditch history and replace it with fortune telling? Brilliant.
Yes. History teaches us about the present, how we're here. It teaches us so many important things about our world. It can answer so many questions, like why did societies form? Why is our economy shaped the way it is? How did we develop our lifestyle? What would happen if a certain event didn't happen?

But I don't think we should hang on to the past. A lot of cultures are regressive. The caste system in India is an example. Another is the role of women in a number of societies. Just because our ancestors did something, doesn't mean we should. Also religion. Don't just blindly believe in it. Research its history and how humanity came to believe in God(s) etc.
For same reason we always seem to believe that society has progressing and that we are better than people who lived in the past. Or we think that people in the past had better lives than as.

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