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History is a narrative to us like a tv show, so I think judgements based on modern values are incomplete and unfair.
by darkgenesha 3y ago
History is a narrative to us like a tv show, so I think judgements based on modern values are incomplete and unfair.
- genman 3y agoQuite contrary. It is completely fair to evaluate the past through the lens of contemporary value system. For example the slavery is today not accepted but during the middle ages it was and was common - therefore by today's standards the life was objectively worse, or most of the people didn't have any education or any rights - again this is in strong contrast to the value system we have today, or because the science was close to non-existent then there rarely was a cure for most of the diseases we can easily cure today, again putting people during the medieval age into worse position.
- CRConrad 3y agoOne reason to be careful with that whole "Of course we have the right to pronounce sweeping moral judgement on whole eras of history" thing is that we haven't the slightest idea what coming ages will say of us. And what the next crackpot who claims to be more enlightened than you or I will claim that they will, so they are just a little ahead of the curve -- but obviously right, of course! -- in condemning you or me, personally, for whatever moral position we hold obviously just and right.