By Sara Simon
In his work, The Life of Reason; The Phases of Human Progress, philosopher George Santayana stated, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. This sentiment has come to be commonplace within society, with its derivative “Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it” appearing in the British House of Commons in 1948, during a speech from Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
These quotes exemplify how, throughout history, many influential figures have touted the importance of recollection of the past, claiming that to understand the present, one must have a comprehension of the events and circumstances of the past. In other words, society does not exist in isolation from history. These quotes, and this idea, quickly cut to the core of the interdisciplinary value of history; history is not something that can be left in the past because history has never existed separate from every other discipline. History relates to, and impacts, more than just the past itself. In short, present society, and all the systems, institutions, and factors within it, are composed of the past.
Despite this, history as a discipline has been decreasing throughout the 21st century. In a study conducted by the Los Angeles Times in 2014, using the most recent national data reported in the United States, less than two percent of all undergraduates were found to be majoring in history, with this number showing a continuous downward trend throughout the 2000s. Additionally, public opinion of the study of history is often understood as being derived from simple memorization of facts and dates, rather than as a tool that can have a great impact on the understanding of multiple fields of work and study. This leads to an understanding that studying history is done solely in the respect of the past, rather than in service of the future.
To understand the importance of historical multidisciplinary, one needs to look no further than recent events in Canadian politics. On September 22, 2023, the Canadian House of Commons gave a standing ovation to a guest invited by former Speaker of the House Anthony Rota. During his speech he praised Yaroslav Hunka, a Ukrainian-Canadian Nazi veteran of the Second World War for his service. It was the hope that this would further Ukrainian-Canadian cooperation during the visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Praising him for his resistance against the Russians, Rota failed to consider historical facts while also demonstrating connections between an understanding of the past and an intellectual present. Paradoxically, by placing emphasis on past conflicts, Rota attempted to represent history as important, akin to the sentiments of Churchill, while simultaneously demonstrating the span of the importance of its study. Through this scandal, the ways in which history can connect other disciplines and aspects of society can clearly be seen, as it has commonly been understood as a costly, albeit, accidental mistake.
History serves as a reminder of how nothing exists in a vacuum; a theory that nothing is cut off from the influence of other factors. It is something that connects to all other fields of study and aspects of society, making history invaluable for the creation of a complex understanding of reality and humanity.
Bibliography
Burkholder, Pete, and Dana Schaffer. “A Snapshot of the Public’s Views on History: National Poll Offers Valuable Insights for Historians and Advocates.” The News Magazine of the American Historical Association: Perspectives on History, August 30, 2021.
https://www.historians.org/research-and-publications/perspectives-on-history/september-2021/a-snapshot-of-the-publics-views-on-history-national-poll-offers-valuable-insights-for-historians-and-advocates.
Grossman, James. “Op-Ed: History Isn’t a ‘useless’ Major. It Teaches Critical Thinking, Something America Needs Plenty More Of.” Los Angeles Times, May 30, 2016. https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-grossman-history-major-in-decline-20160525-snap-story.html.
Quote.org. Winston Churchill Quotes. https://quote.org/quote/those-who-fail-to-learn-from-history-645821.
Santayana, George. The Life of Reason; The Phases of Human Progress . Vol. 1–5. The Project Gutenberg. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/15000/15000-h/15000-h.htm.
The Associated Press. “Canada’s House Speaker Has Stepped down after Inviting a Nazi Veteran to Parliament.” NPR, September 27, 2023. https://www.npr.org/2023/09/27/1201951754/canadas-house-speaker-steps-down-after-inviting-nazi-veteran-parliament
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McLeish, Tom. “Crossing Paths – a British Academy Report on Interdisciplinary in UK Universities.” The British Academy, August 17, 2017. https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/blog/crossing-paths--british-academy-report-interdisciplinarity-uk-universities/.