Re: The evolution of language; was Re: Semaphore - needs practice


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Posted by Jonathan Labaree on December 04, 2002 at 14:39:52 from 207.5.234.19 user JLabaree.

In Reply to: Re: The evolution of language; was Re: Semaphore - needs practice posted by Duncan on December 04, 2002 at 11:15:49:

I agree with Peter R that people don’t “change the course of history”. People change the course of the future, not the past. We’re used to thinking of Thomas Paine, for example, as an historical figure, but he didn’t see himself that way. He thought of himself as very much in the present, doing things to make a better future for his fellow humans. He didn’t change history as far as he knew it. We know he had a profound effect on his future, our past (and present and future, for that matter).

Whether we change history in our interpretation of it is indeed an interesting debate, but I can hardly see how we do. We change our understanding of history as we uncover facts and view them through different lenses, but surely that doesn’t change what happened, what people felt, or how they viewed themselves. Events in history, unlike some quantum particles, don’t change depending on how we measure them (going over my head here, but I learned that somewhere along the line). They stay the same – it’s our interpretation that changes.


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