I have often heard people defend the study of history by saying “those who do not know the past are doomed to repeat it” or something similar
I am not a professional historian, just someone who really enjoys studying it when time allows. So I pose this question to the professional historians reading this, can history really teach us anything about the future? Should that even be the goal of history, to help identify and predict future trends by studying previous ones?
I hope this question does not violate any subreddit rules, I’ve always wanted to hear a professional historians take on the whole “doomed to repeat it” idea and figured r/askhistorians was a good place to start. If this is the wrong place I apologize!!
I think that the "doomed to repeat it" is a misrepresentation of history. There are facts, events, people, and lessons to be learned. However we should not stretch what we have learned beyond its scope. If it's applicable in presenting context for a present or future event it could be appropriate, but I don't think it's appropriate in a prophetic way.