Sahin Ucar

Cultural Patterns and Alienation Trends in History Sahin Ucar

Historia est Magistra Vitae, history is the teacher of life, ancient Romans said. But, what is history in fact? That's the essential question. In my opinion, history must be useful in a way that from which we have to learn how to live and how to organize the world; otherwise it would be useless. Why, if history is conceived as the record of events which happened in past ages, it fits for nothing! What about the present-time in which we are living? And 'Quo vadis Domine?': Where do you go our Lord? From where we have come, and how it has become possible that we live in a dangerous world again? And is it still possible that we have a future still further? What is becoming? What will come out of it? Then, what is history? W. Durant says: "most history is guessing, and the rest is prejudice." Let us repeat after the fashion of Mr Durant: "to begin with, do we really know what the past was, what actually happened, or is history 'a fable' not quite agreed upon?" Historians are obligated to answer, if possible, all of these difficult questions...