Why should we study history?

In this paper, I shall present a number of people's opinions on why we should study history. Let me point out at the outset that many of these views overlap, with differences that are ones of emphasis, rather than of principle. According to some of the greatest historians, such as Arnold Toynbee, the essential value of history is its ability to give us self-awareness, self-knowledge. This occurs because historical figures are presented to us in detail. Studying Alexander the Great, for instance, teaches us that a single person is capable of the whole range of behaviour from cruelty to kindness. Diane Ravich, an education policy analyst, gives a practical reason for studying history. Like many others before her, she claims that history doesn't tell us the answers to our questions, but it helps to inform us and thus to improve our judgment, so that we make better choices in the future. With a different focus, though, we can say that we know nothing about the future, and the present is just a moment, so in fact all there is is history. As the philosopher of education John Dewey suggested, the only tool we have for making sense of the reality we experience is what has occurred in the past. According to historian Mark M Krug, the knowledge of how people acted in the past may not always suggest clever solutions to present crises, but it makes the task of finding them easier by giving us a starting point, a body of past experience which we can and, if necessary, reject. Peter N Stearns argues that the wisdom available from history has a personal, everyday application. People…