Does history matter?

[ypauly]

A Philosophical question for the PH collective

Does history really matter?
Should we be spending so much time and effort trying to understand/preserve the past?
Do lesson's we learn from the past have any relavence today?

[OllieC]

ypauly said:

A Philosophical question for the PH collective

Does history really matter?
Should we be spending so much time and effort trying to understand/preserve the past?
Do lesson's we learn from the past have any relavence today?

yes yes and yes

next question ?

[krallicious]

Of course it matters.

[WorAl]

well thats a good help isnt it?? I can see what the OP is getting at, but i do believe that history does matter and that it should be kept as a reminder to the once Great Britain.

[ypauly]

OllieC said:

ypauly said:

A Philosophical question for the PH collective

Does history really matter?
Should we be spending so much time and effort trying to understand/preserve the past?
Do lesson's we learn from the past have any relavence today?

yes yes and yes

next question ?

aloow me to elaborate
This comes from a discussion with a friend who believes among other things that the future is where we should concentrate our efforts.
one example given were building's should not be listed, merely photgraphed/drawn then knocked down and move on. Thus implying that history or the obsession with history is preventing progress.

[R4PID]

Sadly we don't pay enough attention to it. We're programmed to easily forget.

We like re-inventing the wheel.

I think much of what has already happened can be used to help us in the future, personally, socially, politically and economically. We all think we're different though and that we won't make the same mistakes - blah blah.

[Eric Mc]

History IS the future.

Or, in other words, if you forget history, the future could turn out very painfull.

[sday12]

Bright as a button this fella

[Steamer]

You MUST take into account what has happened previously in order to estimate what might happen in the future.

[R4PID]

ypauly said:

OllieC said:

ypauly said:

A Philosophical question for the PH collective

Does history really matter?
Should we be spending so much time and effort trying to understand/preserve the past?
Do lesson's we learn from the past have any relavence today?

yes yes and yes

next question ?

aloow me to elaborate
This comes from a discussion with a friend who believes among other things that the future is where we should concentrate our efforts.
one example given were building's should not be listed, merely photgraphed/drawn then knocked down and move on. Thus implying that history or the obsession with history is preventing progress.

All the things the ancient Greeks and then the Roman's gave to civilisation and yet 100's of years later (mediaeval times) people were happy to live in relative slums with no sanitation. Learn and build, don't needlessly destroy and never forget.

[ypauly]

Steamer said:

You MUST take into account what has happened previously in order to estimate what might happen in the future.

So in what way does preserving roman ruins help us in the 21st century? doesn't all that looking backwards prevent us from moving forwards?

[BEN66]

Social 'evolution' requires history (in theory anyway, if you could call it evolution...)

[Gargamel]

Certainly it makes it harder to understand Politics and current affiars without some knowledge of what has gone before.

The great changes in the world and the way in which countries have arived in their present position is crucial to informing us today about cultural significance and political events.

Consider trying to unravel the middle east peace process without reference to the Nazi led holocaust. Or closer to home, understand the modern monachy with reference to Cromwell and Charles the First.
Why is the EU seen as such an important institution ? You need to see the relevance in both World Wars to truly appreciate what drives most of Europe to continue with the EU project.

I am sometime unsure of the relevance of studying the agricultural revolution AT LENGTH, or similar oddities in History, but no knowledge is ever wasted and History has many useful lesson for todays generation.
(South Sea bubble springs to mind)

[Blib]

ypauly said:

one example given were building's should not be listed, merely photgraphed/drawn then knocked down and move on.

An excellent idea!

May I suggest that we start with the Emirates Stadium?

[Yertis]

Depends whether or not you consider knowledge important.

[OllieC]

ypauly said:

Steamer said:

You MUST take into account what has happened previously in order to estimate what might happen in the future.

So in what way does preserving roman ruins help us in the 21st century? doesn't all that looking backwards prevent us from moving forwards?

if you dont even know where you have come from, how do you know where you are going ?

[s3fella]

I think it is important. I worked hard at school, got good results, but never really enjoyed or got into history. For some strabge reason, I am far far more interested in it now, now I am a bit older. I think maybe it is the way it was taught, or maybe just because when you are young it is difficult to appreciate things in the past. As you get older, you start to remember and liuve your own bit of history and hence get more interested in what went on before?


I also wonder just how "modern" history will be taught about 100 years from now. There are so many opinions and "facts" that specifics will maybe be lost and history will be looked at as maybe a more philospohical level. Also, events are so much better recorded than they were even 50 years ago. Hell we even study WW1 from a poetry perspective, (so we should the War poets are amazing), but I cannot imagine "Ross Kemp in Afghanistan" (great as it is!) being studied by 6th forms in 100 years time.....?!

An interesting thread BTW!

[shirt]

yes and no.

we can learn a lot from history, but it can also create situations that are highly contentious today but with roots in the ancient past we do not know enough about and where a fresh slate wouldn't go amiss.

ultimately, yes.

[Gargamel]

So would you friend advocate knocking down ...

The Tower of London
Corfe Castle
Auschwitz
Sink the belfast or any other retired naval ship?


Very few people now believe in the physical existence of Jesus, Imagine if his house had been preserved / listed ?

In two hundred years time what buildings remain provide an insight and a proof of what has gone before.

[mybrainhurts]

Of course history matters...

How else could we be confident to invade France, history telling us they're cheese eating surrender monkeys...?