The central problem facing historians is the discovery of the laws which govern history.
Summary:
A major idea Tolstoy is working up to in this epilogue, as stated in Chapter 11, is that “To discover and define those laws is the problem of history.”
In place of the word laws we might substitute the word relationships. Extending this, we might say that historical events are caused by the relationships which govern the activity of all of the people who participate in historical events.
Part of being able to see history in this way involves realizing that, for the historian, the effect of the individual free will of each participant in historical events is negligible. It’s true that the individual participant may feel her actions are the result of her free will, just as she feels that the earth is not moving around the sum. But just as planetary motion is governed by laws, so too are all the actions of participants in historical events in a certain sense inevitable in a given situation.
Although he does not say this, Tolstoy seems to imply that the discovery of the laws which govern history could prevent incalculable human suffering. The War of 1812, for example, produced immense human suffering. A better understanding of history might have prevented this. Again, though, Tolstoy did not actually say this. It is merely one possible interpretation of his thinking.
quote from the chapter:
To discover and define those laws is the problem of history.
From the standpoint from which the science of history now regards its subject on the path it now follows, seeking the causes of events in man’s free will, a scientific enunciation of those laws is impossible, for however man’s free will may be restricted, as soon as we recognize it as a force not subject to law, the existence of law becomes impossible.
Only by reducing this element of free will to the infinitesimal, that is, by regarding it as an infinitely small quantity, can we convince ourselves of the absolute inaccessibility of the causes, and then instead of seeking causes, history will take the discovery of laws as its problem.
Second Epilogue, key concept note 3
The central problem facing historians is the discovery of the laws which govern history.
Summary:
A major idea Tolstoy is working up to in this epilogue, as stated in Chapter 11, is that “To discover and define those laws is the problem of history.”
In place of the word laws we might substitute the word relationships. Extending this, we might say that historical events are caused by the relationships which govern the activity of all of the people who participate in historical events.
Part of being able to see history in this way involves realizing that, for the historian, the effect of the individual free will of each participant in historical events is negligible. It’s true that the individual participant may feel her actions are the result of her free will, just as she feels that the earth is not moving around the sum. But just as planetary motion is governed by laws, so too are all the actions of participants in historical events in a certain sense inevitable in a given situation.
Although he does not say this, Tolstoy seems to imply that the discovery of the laws which govern history could prevent incalculable human suffering. The War of 1812, for example, produced immense human suffering. A better understanding of history might have prevented this. Again, though, Tolstoy did not actually say this. It is merely one possible interpretation of his thinking.
quote from the chapter:
To discover and define those laws is the problem of history.
From the standpoint from which the science of history now regards its subject on the path it now follows, seeking the causes of events in man’s free will, a scientific enunciation of those laws is impossible, for however man’s free will may be restricted, as soon as we recognize it as a force not subject to law, the existence of law becomes impossible.
Only by reducing this element of free will to the infinitesimal, that is, by regarding it as an infinitely small quantity, can we convince ourselves of the absolute inaccessibility of the causes, and then instead of seeking causes, history will take the discovery of laws as its problem.
Click here to read full text of Chapter 11 of this epilogue.
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