Essay Database

THE VALUE OF HISTORY There would seem to be at least three possible viewpoints of the value of history. Clearly such a statement calls for the qualification that the positions represented by these viewpoints are unlikely to be sharply demarcated, but will generally merge into one another. The first is the view that history is bunk, often positively harmful, and that we should have as little to do with it as we can manage. Such …

…the detachment necessary required for a historical approach is totally at odds with the Passion which is inseparable from religious faith. If, however, we believe with Henri Bergson that what we are is to a great extent made up from our memories of the past, and with Alexander Pope that "the proper study of mankind is man", then denying history the mantle of religion need not prevent us from according it a very high value.