Six Lenses To Look At History

Front 1

The Static View

Back 1

nothing ever changes: human experience is essentialy the same today as it was a thousand years ago, the essence of who we are and what we do does not change

Front 2

The Circular View (Cyclical)

Back 2

things do change over time but ultimately they always return to a apoint where they have been in the past (Nietzsche borrowing from Asian and Greek cultures: eternal recurrence of teh same)

Front 3

The Progressive/Englightenment View

Back 3

the further we go in time, the more progress we make
(this does however not indicate the anture of the point to which we areprogressing, nor whether there even si such a point)
only concern: whether our position today relative to yesterday is better and the assumption that they will further improve

Front 4

The Spiral View

Back 4

combine the circular and progressive views (associated with Hegel)
although we do progress, we also return to the same places in human existence, but in "advanced" levels

Front 5

The Cataclysmic View

Back 5

change does seem to occur, but it has no pattern and is therefor unpredictable
view from the perspective of nihilism
history is only randomn events

Front 6

The Regressive View

Back 6

the further we go in time the lower the quality value gets

Cicero: direct proportion between the number of laws and teh decay of a society living with those laws

Front 7

What view does the U.S.-american legal culture share?

Back 7

U.S. legal narrative began during the Enlightenment, thus, it also assumes a progressive view of history

also Holmes notion of predictability based on experience in the common law is rooted in this theory