← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Conservative
Thread ID: 9292 | Posts: 1 | Started: 2003-08-26
2003-08-26 06:57 | User Profile
The following is from [url=http://home.comcast.net/~neoeugenics/historical.htm]http://home.comcast.net/~neoeugenics/historical.htm[/url]
Historic Preservation Conflicts
For his part, [Karl] Popper is convinced that history has no meaning, and in justifying this view he makes some interesting remarks on historical science. Just to begin with, '"history" in the sense in which most people speak of it does not exist; and this is at least one reason why I say that it has no meaning'(OS II:499). There is not and never can be a history of mankind, because it would have to include the history of every single man and woman. What is passed as the 'history of mankind' and taught in schools is really the history of political power, the central framework into which all other possible histories are inserted. From an Introduction to the thought of Karl Popper by Roberta Corvi
Historicism as defined by Popper seems to encapsulate the undercurrent of what drives the historic preservationists. So far the concepts put forth by them such as maintenance of the "collective memory" or preserving a "snap shot" of history to preserve our past for the social good is without any grounding in science. The "why" of preserving old buildings and landmarks is filled with mythological yearnings for the past and a reactionary attack on anything that is new, and as such it should be labeled as a cult; it is a land grab by socialists that want the state to control property for the people rather than allowing citizens to have the freedom to manage their own affairs. The following article begins with some of the conflicts facing historic preservation and ends with a critique of what is actually being preserved.
Complete article is at [url=http://home.comcast.net/~neoeugenics/historical.htm]http://home.comcast.net/~neoeugenics/historical.htm[/url]