ISSUE120希望大家指导一下

melodyfeatherUID: 2676881

TOPIC: ISSUE120 - "So much is new and complex today that looking back for an understanding of the past provides little guidance for living in the present."
WORDS: 437
TIME: 00:45:00
DATE: 2009-8-6 20:51:17

Does the past help today while so much difference exists between the past and present? Someone claims that the problems of contemporary society are so complex and different from the past, looking back at the past would make no difference. However, I disagree with this claim and hold the view that the past still provides guidance.

It's true that nowadays the situations have been turning more and more complex, and so much new things come into beings that the past have not experienced similar cases to present thus fails to provide absolutely proper solution for the problems we meet today. After all, the contemporary society is changing at unprecedented speed and the relationship between the members becomes more complex. For instance, the worldwide environmental pollution composes the problem that had never been met with in the past, and no one could come up with a solution turning to the history merely. And in terms of research, new findings and theories are increasing in amount and the traditional conceptions are soon out of date. Times are different, thus the decision should base on the current conditions to adapt to certain circumstance.


However, no matter what changes have taken place, in substance the world still remains the same. The laws determine the operation of the universe, the nature of humanity, are all constant truth that could not change or would change little. Thus the confusing changes we see are at superficial level, even though the things become more complex. For that matter, though reasons can be different for each disaster varying from wars to financial crisis and whether it broke out in the past or takes place recently, the substantial cause is mostly the greediness of humanity, and it's still the avarice of people that responds to the worldwide pollution originally. It's true that different actions should be taken aimed at details, while the principle of the solution should be same according to the substance of the problems remain unchanged: a consensus or regulation restrict the behaviors. In short, the past help introspection into the truth thus contemporaries could be enabled to catch the gist of the issues.

In addition, even though the answers to the issues of contemporary society could not be found in history textbook, the methods through which the individuals could find solutions keep constant in most cases. Though methodology is also evolving, but the most efficient means are sometimes the most conventional ones. This is especially proper for the fields of science: though the development of these fields could be described as booming, the basic skills and principles, such as respect to the data of the experiment or the methods to construct a system of theory, maintain stable and unchanged for a long time.

In conclusion, though it's essential to make decisions on the current conditions, it's beneficial to look back when no solutions come up.