THE PURPOSE OF HISTORY
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
SALES AGENTS
NEW YORK:
LEMCKE & BUECHNER
30-32 West 27th Street
LONDON:
HUMPHREY MILFORD
Amen Corner, E. C.
THE
PURPOSE OF HISTORY
BY
FREDERICK J. E. WOODBRIDGE
New York
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
1916
All rights reserved
Copyright, 1916,
By Columbia University Press.
————
Printed from type, July, 1916.
NOTE
This book contains three lectures delivered at the University of NorthCarolina on the McNair Foundation in March of the current year. Itexpresses certain conclusions about history to which I have been led bythe study of the history of philosophy and by reflection on the work ofcontemporary philosophers, especially Bergson, Dewey, and Santayana.
I am happy to acknowledge my indebtedness to the Faculty and Students ofthe University of North Carolina for a most delightful visit at Chapel Hill.
F. J. E. W.
Columbia University
in the City of New York
June, 1916
CONTENTS
| I. | From History to Philosophy | 1 |
| II. | The Pluralism of History | 27 |
| III. | The Continuity of History | 58 |
THE PURPOSE OF HISTORY
I FROM HISTORY TO PHILOSOPHY
The serious study of history is characteristic of a certain maturity ofmind. For the intellectually young, the world is too new and attractiveto arouse in them a very absorbing interest in its past. Life is forthem an adventure, and the world is a place for excursions andexperiences. They care little about what men have done, but much aboutwhat they might do. History, to interest them, must be written as aromance which will fire their imagination, rather than as a philosophywhich might make them wise. But maturity, somewhat disciplined anddisillusioned, confirms the suspicion, which even youth entertains attimes, that the world, while offering an opportunity, hedges the offerabout with restrictions which must be understood and submitted to, ifeffort is to be crowned with success. The mature may thus become eagerto understand life without ceasing to enjoy it.[Pg 2] They may becomephilosophical and show their wisdom by a desire to sympathize with whatmen have done and to live rationally in the light of what is possible.They may study history, convinced that it enlarges their sympathies andpromotes rational living.
We might, therefore, conclude that the prevailing interest in historicalstudies is a sign that the age is growing in