History is a part of our world

Letters

HISTORY, in the present century, has migrated from the sphere of humanities to that of social sciences.
This itself speaks for the new look which it has acquired and the change in the study and the use of history.
Men, in the past, have limited its scope and have derided it.
People like Carlyle and Emerson have considered history to be nothing more than biographies put together, and Gibbon viewed history as a register of crimes, follies and misfortunes of mankind.
Henry Ford once referred to it as bunk, and Carlyle called it a “dust heap”.
Yet history is a part of our world.
It was believed till a few years ago that history was related only to the past and has no utility for the future.
At best it is a record of human achievements and at worst it may make interesting reading.
This, however, is not the case anymore.
History has its own utility.
It provides an insight into human nature both individually and collectively.
It makes it possible to view the mistakes of the past and to try to avoid them in the present.
It is also possible to make political predictions on the basis of past behaviour for nations and countries normally follow a pattern.
It is also possible to study the psychology of a people and to analyse the factors which may have influenced their behaviour, at times it may also be possible to artificially recreate these factors.

John Wadidika