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Is history important?
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History gives us a framework in which to shape our lives

Exemplary examples of government, culture, and tech help shape our lives in the present and pave the way for the future.
Education History

The Argument

We can look to the past to help us understand the world as it is today because overall, people don't change. The ways we run our governments and societies, produce food, create technology are largely consistent. There is even technology in the past that rivals our own, such as the mysterious Baghdad Battery[1] found in Khujut Rabu. There is even some ancient tech that is more advanced than our own.[2] Having a working knowledge of the past can help us as we continue to shape the world and the way things are done across all eras and cultures.[3] We can use what we have learned about the world to build a framework for our lives in the present, using both our mistakes and our successes to work towards building our futures.[4]

Counter arguments

The people of today are more educated than the people of the past; we can't move forward by staying stuck in the past. Old rules and forms of government don't work for today's cultures and societies. Old ways of thinking are a detriment to the freedoms that are enjoyed by women and minorities today. Old tech is outdated and obsolete. The only way to move forward is to create new and innovative ideas, and these can only be found in the here and now.

Proponents

Premises

[P1] People across eras and cultures are fundamentally the same. We can learn about our world today by studying the way the world worked in the past. [P2] People in the past were smart, and their tech was sound and functional. There is even technology in the past that rivals our own.

Rejecting the premises

[P1] We have evolved and advanced far beyond the peoples of the past. [P2] Modern tech is more useful and relevant to us than ancient tech--even those ancient technologies that are "more advanced" than ours.

References

  1. https://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-technology/baghdad-battery-0078
  2. https://www.theepochtimes.com/6-advanced-ancient-inventions-beyond-modern-understanding_1149292.html
  3. https://www.realmofhistory.com/2016/12/23/4-main-benefits-learning-history/
  4. https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/Navigation/Community/Arcadia-and-THP-Blog/June-2016/Why-It%E2%80%99s-Important-That-We-Study-History
This page was last edited on Monday, 9 Nov 2020 at 22:30 UTC

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