It has been suggested (by the writer L. P. Hartley) that "The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there". Douglas Adams, the science-fiction author, posits an opposite case: the past is truly a foreign country, they do things just like us. Somewhere between these two is the elusive element that attracts us to the past, and prompts us to study history.
Since they do things differently, we learn to question why we do things the way we do. Because they act nobly and mess up just like us, we can learn from them. Arnold also quotes Jean Bodin's Method for the Easy Comprehension of History (1566):
Although history has many eulogists ... yet among them no one has commended her more truthfully and appropriately than the man who called her the "master of life."
1 comment:
They don't just do things differently than we do, and leave us to randomly interpret what they've done. Sometimes they tell us why they have done it. They tell us through journals, letters, essays, reviews, speeches and their carefully constructed (self affirming) records. So we don't simply have their actions, but a conversation from past generations through which we may assess our motivations. Such is a value to history which is greater than merely a visit to a foreign country.
Chris
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