Why Study History?

When people ask why I study history, the most often response I get (even from my kids) is that "history is boring." If history is taught as an endless succession of dates and facts to memorize, then that may well be an understandable response. When I think about this question more fully, I am reminded of the famous quote by the philosopher George Santayana who wrote in The Life of Reason that "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." It's a witty comeback when asked why history is important, but perhaps it's not as accurate as it seems. Instead, upon further reflection, I think the more appropriate answer is a (probably apocryphal) quote attributed to Mark Twain, who reportedly said that “History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes.” Whether Twain said it or not, here now is a clever but also nuanced answer to the question, "Why Study History?"

These eight words provide a potent response. So let's unwrap them. Santayana's quote supposes that you can prevent bad things from happening in the present if you understand the missteps that people made in the past. Twain's “History doesn’t repeat itself" is a tacit rebuke to Santayana. These words suggest that studying history is important, but not because you can simply learn what happened in the past as a precise guide to understanding the present and future, or simply change the course of history by avoiding the mistakes of the past. To be sure, there is certainly value in this suggestion. The English philosopher and theologian G.K. Chesterton wrote about the value of understanding past:

In the matter of reforming things, as distinct from deforming them, there is one plain and simple principle; a principle which will probably be called a paradox. There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, "I don't see the use of this; let us clear it away." To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: "If you don't see the use of it, I certainly won't let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it."

Chesterton's fence is an inherently conservative outlook that supports change only when the past is understood. In this sense, remembering the past is part and parcel of understanding the present. But as to repetition, there are few examples of history repeating itself. Writers have long discussed the idea of historic recurrence but the "striking similarity" between supposedly reoccurring events is lacking.

This is where the second part of Twain's quote shines through: "but if often rhymes." This sounds so Twain that it is entirely understandable why a quote like this would be attributed to him (whether he actually said it or not). Rhyming suggests that historic recurrence has some validity to it, but that it is not so simple as Santayana would have it. Instead, history is more complicated than an endless succession of dates and facts to memorize. History is a story about the past involving events and personalities and complex relationships that are open to interpretation. If we allow it, history teaches us important lessons about human nature that resonate across generations and centuries. So while history may not repeat itself, we can assuredly learn something when history rhymes.

References

Chesterton, G.K. The Thing: Why I am a Catholic. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1930.

Edmondson, Michael. "Why Study History?" OAH Magazine of History 9, no. 4 (1995): 45-47.

Santayana, George. The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress. New York: Dover Publications, 1980.