History is certainly a peculiar topic. Especially when
studied under the scope of Theory of Knowledge. This is because our main
sources of learning about history are either memories retold, or journals, records
and other pieces of written evidence. It is these sometimes rare documents that
provide a possible insight into a culture or a time period. However, some
evidence can be misleading of what actually happened in the past. Records can
be forged, destroyed, the public lied to, any number of things. It is from this
that the fallacy of the victor writes the history comes from, and in some cases
this can even be true.
Furthermore, an aspect of human culture and life is human’s tendency
to repeat the past. This is part of what makes knowing our history so
important. Barbara Tuchman writes “The story and study of the past, both recent
and distant, will not reveal the future, but it flashes beacon of lights along
the way and it is useful nostrum against despair” (286). By knowing the past it
is easier to learn from mistakes, and to avoid repeating them. An example of
this can be clearly seen between the two dictators Napoleon and Hitler. Both
attempted to conquer Russia, and both failed as a result of the intense
winters. Had Hitler realized this, and not attempted to push into Russian
territory, there may have been a different outcome to WWII. This same concept
was present in the Star Trek voyager film we watched. The colony that had lived
on that planet setup a device so that everyone near there would remember what
had happened. So that no one would commit the same crime, and repeat past
mistakes. Through this the fallacies of the victors tell the story is also
falsified. Had the winners of war been
the only ones to ever tell history, any story of any oppressed or defeated
nation would be lost. This is part of
what makes history also so important to humans as a species. It defines who we
are and who we were in the past. Without history, there is not tradition. And without
traditions, nothing else truly separates each culture. In a way history is also
linked to our memories. For many hundreds of years, and even today, some
histories are passed down through memories and are told to one another. It is
also a sort of historical documentation. In the end history becomes a part of
humans that defines us.
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Good, Nick. You have many ideas and a really good example. You have the elements you need for a ToK unit; all you need now is a tighter focus and flow. What I'm looking for is what you achieved when you connected the Russian winter example to the Star Trek example. The memory piece is sort of tacked on at the end, when it could have been better integrated. It's hard to do, though, I know. It just takes practice.
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