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"The only thing we learn from history is that we never learn from history." -Hegel See Research In Motion (RIM).
by lambersley 15y ago
"The only thing we learn from history is that we never learn from history." -Hegel
See Research In Motion (RIM).
- gruseom 15y agoThat's got to be bogus. How likely is it that Hegel said anything so succinct?
- aaronharnly 15y agoI was curious too, and tracked it down to this. Only slightly more verbose than the quote! But what experience and history teach is this, - that peoples and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it. http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/hegel/works/hi/history2.htm#II.2 http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/hegel/works/hi/his...
- gruseom 15y agoExcellent! Thanks. Interestingly, Hegel's argument is opposite to what the other quote says. The other quote implies that we could learn from history if we bothered, but we don't bother, so we never learn. At least that's how I read it. But Hegel's saying that people always try to learn from history and we should stop trying because it's impossible: Rulers, Statesmen, Nations, are wont to be emphatically commended to the teaching which experience offers in history. But what experience and history teach is this, - that peoples and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it. Each period is involved in such peculiar circumstances, exhibits a condition of things so strictly idiosyncratic, that its conduct must be regulated by considerations connected with itself, and itself alone. Amid the pressure of great events, a general principle gives no help. It is useless to revert to similar circumstances in the Past.