“The
true picture of the past flits by. The past can be seized only as an image
which flashes up at the instant when it can be recognized and is never seen
again. ‘The truth will not run away from us’: in the historical outlook of
historicism these words of Gottfried Keller mark the exact point where
historical materialism cuts through historicism. For every image of the past
that is not recognized by the present as one of its own concerns threatens to
disappear irretrievably. (The good tidings which the historian of the past
brings with throbbing heart may be lost in a void the very moment he opens his mouth.)”
Walter Benjamin "Theses on the Philosophy of History"
This
passage is interesting because it reminds me of the poet and philosopher George
Santayana who said ” those who cannot remember the past are dome to repeat it.” The key
here is not just to remember the image but what doe it mean. If we can recollect
what happened in the past, but do not understand it we can not apply it to
today’s conditions, In other words the information is useless. We must remember
the past and its context so that materialism can not assign it a new or different
meaning and value to it.
Andrew, you are right by your point, we need to understand the past in order to integrate it with our present activities.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, history has its way of repeating itself mostly because we did not acknowledge or remember it. We need to remember history in order to learn from it, so that it will not repeat itself.
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