The more the nineteenth century progressed in science, industry, and even politics, the more nostalgic it became in spirit. Such are the hydraulics of historical consciousness.
Mark Lilla • Ignorance and Bliss
History can weigh like a millstone; archaic distinctions and practices can drag upon our freedom and agency. But detachment from the past has its own pitfalls. It means that the past that survives is a default genealogy, a mere reflection of the status quo, fixed and irrelevant. It loses its living value, its capacity to help the current generation
... See moreLizzie O'Shea • Future Histories: What Ada Lovelace, Tom Paine, and the Paris Commune Can Teach Us About Digital Technology
What we have lost, and what we desperately need to reclaim, is a different mode of cognition, a historical sensibility . This is not about memorizing dates and facts. It is, as the historian Gordon S. Wood describes it, a “different consciousness,” a way of understanding that profoundly influences how we see the world. It is a temperament that is... See more