Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Western civilization- our historical themes


Matt Kramer               
       “Our Historical Themes”
“The importance of history is realizing its presence.”
“The same conditions always produce the same results.”
“The only thing new in the world is the history you didn’t know.”
...and there examples.
To really take from history is to realize that its’ existence is not just that of the past but in the present and future. With this realization one will be able to make more just and accurate judgments, as well as choices. The realization of history’s presence is not the mark of intelligence yet the mark of wisdom. An example of this is when you know the outcome of certain military or political strategies from the past, you can use these as ‘‘context clues’’ for what choices and moves to make.      
How society is organized, in relation to the way the human brain works, has a direct correlation with history. This is why certain causes have the same or very similar effects. When a society is set up in a certain way it goes through a cycle. Just how a dictatorial, communistic, monarchial, democratic, etc., will go through similar cycles pertaining to their governing method than those of their governmental predecessors. An Example of this would be the Roman empire. Their rise, superfluity, stagnation, and fall. Using this as insight into Republic systems you can see the flaws by using history as your key.
Everything has its’ own history, including biology. With this thought one can understand how learning and discovering new things is basically learning something from the past you simply did not know. An example of this is Watson and Cricks discovery of DNA. When they discovered this, DNA already had its’ own long history. Also, the more we learn about DNA and its’ evolution, the more we learn about the history of our planet and the life on it.

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