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9/24/10
Period 2
Introduction
Ghaddis wrote about history through the metaphor of maturity; history grows
similar to how humans grow and mature. It starts out as a very subjective, a very
personal way of thinking. I apply my beliefs to a historical fact and from there “raise” it
in a way that it becomes more. The fact is told to other people who make it
intersubjective, changing the “I believe” into “We believe.” “Development is not a linear
ladder but a fluid and flowing affair” (Theory of Development) and in order to better
understand history and its perspectives, we must learn to move just as fluidly.
movement away from the previous ways of thinking. Modern thinkers seek out
people who will fear the unknown and cling to the ways of old. The neoconservatives
especially believed modernity to be a “seducer” and that “the modern movement disrupts
the unity of culture.” (Introduction- Modernity) And yet, it is through the acceptance of
modernity that cultures become further unified. Were we to stick to what we know as
familiar, we would never grow and mature, our views would remain constantly narrow.
the given,” (The Lasting Effects of Romanticism) they both want to be free of the
constraints of set rules. This perspective emphasizes “not knowledge of values, but their
creation.” (The Lasting Effects of Romanticism) Nothing exists outside of the human
mind, so say romanticists. History does not exist until someone chooses to create it, to
represent it on a page as an artist represents an image upon a canvas. There is “no pattern
to which you must submit yourself” (The Lasting Effects of Romanticism) and therefore
History is created through romantic principles. Historians who dictate what really
happened in a certain event create it. While they have an original template to which they
must adhere when presenting evidence to prove their claims, these facts of evidence are
reproduce only a lifeless political State.” (The Lasting Effects of Romanticism) In a way,
and modernity. He saw Christianity- and religion in general- as a restrictive social order
that prevented progress and separated humanity into their religious groups. He believed
that religion should be thrown out, a very modern way of thinking, so that there would be
few reasons to discriminate. By casting off social orders, he believes humans can
The concept of the will to power is that “our fundamental drive for power… is
stronger then the will to survive.” (Nietzsche- The Birth of Tragedy) Power struggles of
oppression and liberation are placed above basic survival instincts, as martyrs rather
obviously show; even the primal urge to procreate is less than the urge to power, “as
monks willingly give up sex for the sake of a greater cause” (Nietzsche- The Birth of
Tragedy) Nietzsche “is more interested in the sublimated will to power” (Nietzsche- The
Birth of Tragedy) rather than the violence typically associated with such power plays. He
believes that were this concept to be turned inward, were people concerned with mastery
over self as opposed to mastery over others, they would then represent a more refined
form of power. Through this refined power, humanity- which Nietzsche theorized to be a
“transition, not a destination” (Nietzsche- the Birth of Tragedy)- could move on to the
destination of “overman” which “we started toward when we first reigned in our animal
instincts.”
Following the romantic ideals of a modern era, “Nietzsche is critical of the very
idea of objective truth.” (Nietzsche- the Birth of Tragedy) Like the romantic belief that
there is no pattern to follow in life, Nietzsche believes that there is no one truth that every
one has to agree on. History, however, cannot become history until it is widely accept as
a truth.
Conclusion
provides progress in understanding, allows us to view what has been in a way that was
not considered before. If we can apply modernism and romanticism to how we view
history, then it should be just as easy to apply it to the way we live our lives. Perhaps one
day we can transition as Nietzsche said we would and become the Overmen we were
meant to become.