Introduction
History is an integral part of humanity as it provides records of past events with regards to the social, political and economic constructs of humankind’s society. While most scholars agree on the essentiality of studying the past, the concept of whether humanity learns from history is a matter of debate. Cases of repetitive patterns within the world’s sociocultural and political constructs cast doubt as to whether the world pays keen attention to history. A standard human behavior, as Winston Churchill's put it, those that refuse to refuse to learn from history are bound to repeat it (Johnson, 2012). This paper provides an analysis of the importance history and an in-depth discussion on whether humanity learns from the records of past events.
Importance of History
History is a highly crucial aspect of the world’s social life. According to Corfield (2008) defines the concept of humanity. He emphasizes that the learning of history provides insights into legacies built in the past as well as the mistakes made making it extremely vital for the present population to learn the subject. Information from the past, therefore, guides legacies built today while allowing humanity to avoid the mistakes made by the predecessors. The most significant reason behind the study of history is not to gain infinite knowledge but to provide useful empirical interpretation of the past events.
While the essentiality of history to present world is undebatable, the question of whether humanity learns from history is an issue widely discussed by scholars. To better understand the attitude of humankind towards the study of history, it is crucial to analyze the impact of the human negligence of history to the social, political and economic aspects of the modern day world.
According to O’Rourke (2013), the human socioeconomic life is marred by extreme cases of poverty; a phenomenon that dates to the prehistoric era. Such a situation poses forth of whether the continued abject economic misery by a section of the population is as a result of failure to seek financial solutions from past sources of data or whether neglect of history allows the continuous existence of the case. From a political perspective, history is full of records about wars and the inevitable devastating impacts that results from them. The continued aggression experienced in the world possess doubt as to whether humanity pays attention to history. However, military historians emphasize the need for military history as a way of learning leadership, strategies, and logistics.
In conclusion, it is extremely crucial that history is studied. Not only does it provide a clear sense of direction towards the future endeavors, but also presents an opportunity for humankind to learn from past events. However, the constant repetition of events casts a shadow on whether humanity pays attention to historical records. Cases of social, economic and political phenomena stagnating as the time goes by makes most scholars tend towards concluding that the world continually ignores its past.