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The Uses and Abuses of History: A Commentary on Hugh Ragsdale's Toynbee
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17755 |
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Section : |
MODERN THOUGHT
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| Issue
Date : |
6 / 1990 |
1,949 Words |
| Author
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Morton A. Kaplan
Editor and Publisher |
Hugh Ragsdale's use of Arnold Toynbee's writings to raise the issue of the ideographic (descriptive) and the nomothetic (lawlike) in history is quite interesting. However, although it admirably explores the issues in the analysis of history, it comes to few conclusions. Perhaps linguistic and conceptual analysis may shed some light on the issues Ragsdale leaves unresolved except for his expressed preference for the ideographic approach to history.
Some very simple examples my help us to explore these issues. Suppose someone says that men and women are the same; they are both human beings. Someone else notes that humans and monkeys are the same; they are both anthropoids. A third participant notes that anthropoids and whales are the same; they are both mammals. A fourth notes that mammals and coal are both organic. Then another person notes that the organic and the inorganic are the same; they are both material. We may feel with considerable justification that something less than clear thinking is being presented.
Regardless of the subject of discussion, any two referents whatsoever can be linked by some relationship. Thus, eventually we will produce the claim that everything is the same as everything else. This is true, but only with reference to that particular relationship. The claim that everything is the same as everything else, unless highly restricted, has destroyed the information that is required for meaningful communication. As long as the claim is not pushed quite this far, it may appear profound to some when it is merely obfuscatory. If this were an example of the nomothetic it would, of course, be misleading. However, these examples reflect misuse of scientific method.
The categories that Regsdale abstracts from Toynbee and other historians - the didactic, the providential, and the utilitarian - also provide an example of how linguistic abstraction can be used to create an appearance of likeness that may be misleading. Every society has some rules of thumb guide behavior. For instance, be good to those who are good to you (didactic). Every society has providential beliefs. For instance, hustlers believe that they are rewarded for their ability to outwit others. Every society has utilitarian aspects. For instance, be sure that your powder is dry.
It is not possible to write a history that in some way does not refer to these aspects of culture, although the aspects that predominate and their specific features will differ with different societies. The content and the "feel" of the different histories will be
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