Lessons of History

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Will and Ariel Durant wrote a beastly eleven-volume set of books called ‘The Story of Civilization’. This book is a much more approachable summary of what the themes they found across those eleven books. I like it more than most history books I’ve read because it discusses themes and principles more than specific events. If you’re looking to learn from history books then (as the name suggests), this one will give you some good education. Straight from the pen of those who have spent their lives studying it.

1. Hesitations

  • The present is the past rolled up for action, while the past is the present unrolled for understanding

2. History And The Earth

  • Historically, geography has played a significant part in history as countries with more coastline had more trade routes

  • As technology improves, geography is becoming less important

3. Biology And History

  • Three lessons of history with regards to biological life

  1. Life is a competition

  • Nowadays we just compete in groups (race, religion, football team, country)

  1. Life is selection

  • Inequality is very natural

  • Below average – Want equality

  • Above average – Want freedom

  • So therefore there is freedom as the above average are the ones with control

  1. Life must breed

  • Nature has a passion for quantity

4. Race And History

  • Historically, the purer races have had more success

    • Eg Aryans and Nordics

  • Growth of the non-nordics –> History is colour blind

  • Civilizations create races, not the other way around

5. Character And History

  • Human nature = The fundamental tendencies of mankind

  • The character of mankind has not changed throughout history much

  • Innovative “men of action” lead the way for the imitators (everyone else)

6. Morals And History

  • Morality – Rules which compel society’s members to behave in a way that is consistent with order, security and growth

  • 3 stages of history

    1. Hunting
    2. Agriculture
    3. Industry

  • Morals change throughout history

  • The morals of the industrial age are unclear at the moment

7. Religion And History

  • “As long as there is poverty there will be gods” – Religion gives meaning to the poor

  • Historically, the church would hold all people responsible for their actions

    • This enforces a moral code as everyone is accountable to the church

  • Industrial revolution: Religion –> Secularism

  • The story of religion = religion (morals) vs state (laws)

    • Religion used to be winning but it has not been since the industrial revolution

8. Economics And History

  • Marx: “History is economics in action”

  • At the end of the day all men are driven by a profit motive

  • A natural inequality of ability leads to a natural inequality of wealth

    • This wealth is then redistributed by law following a revolution

  • The concentration of wealth is periodically redistributed by violent revolt

9. Socialism And History

  • Socialism only seems to be preferable during war time

  • It inevitably leads to dictatorship and serfdom (Try to leave –> Forced to stay)

  • Socialism has failed many times in history, from Peru to China

  • Industrial revolution resurrected communism through Marx and Hegel (“Communist manifesto”)

  • In recent years it appears that capitalist economies are embracing socialism and vice versa

    • The world appears to be slowly moving toward a system somewhere in the middle

10. Government And History

  • Government controls the limits to freedom

    • The aim of government is to maximise freedom while establishing order

  • Nerva to Marcus Aurelius is regarded as the greatest ruling period

  • Historically, monarchy has proved better at ruling than democracy

  • States are very complex. Therefore oligarchy tends to perform better than monarchy as it is impossible for a single person to hold all that information in their head

  • “Does history justify revolutions?”

  • As things get more complex, inequality will get worse as those who understand will become more powerful and fewer in number

  • Democracy = The right to opportunity, not the right to power

11. History And War

  • Individuals are restrained by morals and law, but states and countries are not. Hence there is war

  • Until 20th century war was always between aristocracies, then the people were brought into it

12. Growth And Decay

  • There is no certainty that history will repeat the past, but there is some sort of life cycle

  • Civilizations do not have a life expectancy and they can live forever, the reason they don’t is because something kills them

  • Civilizations are still driven by men of “clear mind and energetic will”

13. Is Progress Real?

  • Science is a neutral existence, as it can both build and destroy

  • 3 measures of progress (and if we have progressed)

    • Happiness (we are arguably less happy today than in hunter gatherer times)

    • Control of environment (we certainly have more control of the world today)

    • Education (we are more educated today both at the expert level and the baseline minimum childhood education)

  • Progress in heritage – We will always have a richer history than ever before as long as time keeps going forward

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