Does History Repeat Itself? - Eng. Abdulmohsen bin Abdullah Al-Madi
يستعرض المقال الجدل الفلسفي حول مقولة تكرار التاريخ، مؤكداً أن كل حدث فريد في ظروفه وأطرافه وأن التشابه ناتج عن أخطاء الإنسان لا عن الزمن ذاته.
1 - Many sayings we repeat unconsciously, such as: 'He who has no past has no present or future,' or 'History repeats itself,' which is another saying we repeat unconsciously.. While history is a record of time; if you sow, you will inevitably reap; if you walk in the right direction, you will inevitably arrive; but if you walk in the wrong direction, you will inevitably not arrive.. History here does not repeat itself; every event has its own composition describing it in terms of events, people, circumstances, place, and time.
2 - Those who say that history repeats itself, or say that he who has no past has no future, say it for defensive or offensive reasons.. Either self-flagellation or belittling others.. Some wait for history to repeat itself, while others take the initiative to make history and create the mixture or composition that will shape their today and tomorrow.. These two types are the ones who describe their history and determine the direction of that history.
3 - Those who say that history repeats itself promote a truth they see, which is that the present cannot be understood without understanding the past and solving its mysteries, and that the future cannot be foreseen without understanding the present in light of our understanding of what happened in the past.. Undoubtedly, the present is a result of what we did in the past, but what we will obtain in the future will inevitably be a result of what we will do in our present, not what was done in the past on the basis of history repeating itself.. History may repeat some of its old features, but it certainly will not repeat itself.
4 - So does history repeat itself? I don't think so, because history writes itself anew every day.. Why not? Time is not the same time, place is not the same place, man is not the same man, and circumstances are not the same circumstances. Nothing resembles anything else, so how can history repeat itself? Otherwise, life would freeze at one of its seasons.. And that is what the reality of life today denies.
5 - If history rewrites itself, it is certainly by an agent, and thus it becomes an altered, falsified, lying history.. Lying in history by altering or falsifying it turns it into a story or tale, but it is no longer history.. Just as history cannot be lied to otherwise it becomes a story, history cannot be manufactured without turning into a play.. Everyone acts in it under the threat of the gun's muzzle, or the drive of interests, or the blindness of backwardness.
6 - As for the saying: 'He who has no past has no future,' this is a false claim adopted by those who defend their interests, and it is believed by failures as a justification for staying with the failures.. Social movement faces several dilemmas in its orientations; including violent repression that stops all movement, even stops thinking, or directing society to choose a historical moment with sectarian or national characteristics, making it an 'eternal moment' that cannot be revised or surpassed.. At that point, society's leaders and elites commit the sin of saying that he who has no past has no present or future.
7 - The similarity of events does not mean that history repeated itself; man is man in his whims, desires, and pursuit of his interests.. Man is the one who repeats his mistakes and his submission to his interests and whims.. Thus, it is man who repeats himself, not history.. Similarity occurs in the problems that arise among humans due to their selves.. And the difference lies in the way of dealing with the problem and the circumstances surrounding the problem's owners.. If the premises are similar, the results are similar.. That is all there is to it.
8 - Yes, the Earth rotates, but history does not repeat itself.
Original source: Al-Jazirah
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