History Held Valuable In Giving True Perspectives

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27679, 8 June 1955, Page 7

History Held Valuable In Giving True Perspectives

* ‘The supreme value of history -is to lift.us out of the trivial and the parochial, to raise our minds above the petty circumstances of our daily lives, ' to fire our imaginations and deepen our ' understandings by viewing the strange and sad spectacle of humanity’s past pilgrimage,’’ said Mr J. J. Saunders, ; senior lecturer in history at Canterbury University College, speaking to the Canterbury Hostorial Association last evening on the purpose of teach- : ing history. Mr Saunders said Dr Johnson had stated: “Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses, whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future predominate over the present, advances us in the dignity of thinking beings. “The student of history has within his reach a cure for -mindedness ’-—a dangerous disease which often stimulates to excessive optimism or pessimism those who know nothing of the past, and think the conditions of their own day will last for ever,* Mr Saunders said. “The student has a , prophylactic against strident and vicious propaganda, which is distorted history, *put forward with intent to deceive and which deals, not in downright lies, but in half-truths very difficult to refute. Thus the Nazis replied to British criticisms of the abominable concentration camps by saying that the British, themselves, had set up such camps for the Boers during the South African War. To pbint out the fallacy of this comparison required a considerable amount of expert historical knowledge.” History was one of the humanities, which dealt with men, as distinct front the sciences, which dealt with nature, he said. It was the collective biography of mankind, and opened up someof the deepest problems of philo- ( sophy. Indeed, an ancient writer had called history “philaophy. teaching by I examples/’ Mr &unders said. “It introduces us to an incredible:

variety of men and women—kings and statesmen, saints and soldiers, conquerors and revolutionaries—whose lives and characters, successes and failures, shed so much light on the strange and complex thing called human nature that it helps us to understand ourselves, to attain self-know-ledge, which the Greeks considered the goal of true wisdom.” A country anxious to produce intelli-

gent and well-informed citizens must provide effective historical training for its children, Mr Saunders said. History alone was capable of explaining the present, whose roots lay buried so deep in the Only a knowledge of the basic elements of Russian history would explain why Stalin’s foreign policy was not so very different from that of the Tsars, or to what extent the Soviet system rested on the fact that it was the first thing of universal significance that the Russians had created. The man who could view events historically was much less likely to bjL deceived by catch-phrases ahd oversimplification of complex phenomena such as “All modern wars are caused by capitalists” or “The Germans have always been aggressors.” said Mr Saunders.

“The nearer we get to the root-stuff of history and read the letters, diaries, and papers of the men who made it, the less convincing these easy generalisations appear, the clearer it becomes that few things are inevitable, and it is seen that in every historical event a multitude of factors are involved. Instead of a clear-cut picture in black and white, a smudgy outline emerges and the great conflicts of the past cannot be seen as simple battles between right and wrong,” Mr Saunders said. Mental Discipline Lecky cnee remarked that history was largely concerned with the probabilities on which the conduct of lifedepended and suggested that the arguments on each side of a historical issue should be listed and weighed carefully, Mr Saunders said- “This is a mbot valuable mental discipline,’’ he said. “So is an intelligent investigation* of the puzzles, conundrums, and might-have-beens of history. , “We should never forget Acton’s advice problems rather than periodK'Utod remember that to learn hiftorydoes riot mean memorising lists of kings, and dates, and battles; but trying to grasp the inner significance of -events and tracing their antecedents and consequences,” Mr Saunders said. “All students and teachers of history might ponder the words which Sir Walter Raleigh put into the preface to his ‘History of the World,’ which he wrote when a prisoner in <the Tower: ‘History hath triumphed over time, besides which nothing but eternity hath triumphed over.’ ”