“the historians task is to understand the past; the human scientist, by contrast, is looking to change the future.” To what extent is this true in these areas on knowledge?
Logan Falco
11/22/13
TOK Prescribed Title
“the historians task is to understand the past; the human scientist, by contrast, is looking to change the future.” To what extent is this true in these areas on knowledge? Life is too short for any individual to make every mistake. We use history to learn where we come from and what the caused events of the past to happen. There must be a strong in depth understanding of what causes events such as the renaissance all the way to World War Two. Creating a strong understanding of the past helps form a guide to make the future better. Human sciences seek the functionality of the human mind in order to reason why people act the way they do. These scientists find ways the mind works in order to avoid or coup with undesirable traits of our psyche. These differing tactics lead us to the question “To what extent are these areas of knowledge seeking the same objective?” Historians attempt to identify what incidents and people change the course of human history. Inquiring what caused those incidents? What made that person act in the way they did? Their studies observe both pleasant and cruel things in the past. Once able to recognize what produced a good and bad event or person in the past can be applied to the present to help shift modern events. For example since the rise of the Nazi party has been studied so rigorously we are able to recognize the pre-cursing signs in order to halt the upcoming result. In contrast we can look to high economic times or flourishing of the arts to see what had led to them. Going beyond the simple study of what has happened, the knowledge we archive has become a vital reference point for civilization today. In spite of it being a study of the past it is in fact enhancing the future for the society around them. Civilization would never come to existents if we never learn from our mistakes. Just as people will never live long enough to make every mistake themselves they must learn from the
11/22/13
TOK Prescribed Title
“the historians task is to understand the past; the human scientist, by contrast, is looking to change the future.” To what extent is this true in these areas on knowledge? Life is too short for any individual to make every mistake. We use history to learn where we come from and what the caused events of the past to happen. There must be a strong in depth understanding of what causes events such as the renaissance all the way to World War Two. Creating a strong understanding of the past helps form a guide to make the future better. Human sciences seek the functionality of the human mind in order to reason why people act the way they do. These scientists find ways the mind works in order to avoid or coup with undesirable traits of our psyche. These differing tactics lead us to the question “To what extent are these areas of knowledge seeking the same objective?” Historians attempt to identify what incidents and people change the course of human history. Inquiring what caused those incidents? What made that person act in the way they did? Their studies observe both pleasant and cruel things in the past. Once able to recognize what produced a good and bad event or person in the past can be applied to the present to help shift modern events. For example since the rise of the Nazi party has been studied so rigorously we are able to recognize the pre-cursing signs in order to halt the upcoming result. In contrast we can look to high economic times or flourishing of the arts to see what had led to them. Going beyond the simple study of what has happened, the knowledge we archive has become a vital reference point for civilization today. In spite of it being a study of the past it is in fact enhancing the future for the society around them. Civilization would never come to existents if we never learn from our mistakes. Just as people will never live long enough to make every mistake themselves they must learn from the