People have spent plenty of time, money and energy on the study of past. When it comes to the value of the past knowledge, dichotomy of attitudes occurs about whether contribution of present endeavor in any field dependent on the influence from the past. Could history in science and creative fields strongly contribute to the knowledge development today? Admittedly, there are other factor that affect the study outcomes, however, any researchers and scholars whoever want to greatly develop their theories and practices have to base on the past outcomes. Even if those in humanity field would be significantly influenced by the work in the history.
What have to be admitted is that, in order to make acceptable success, there are many other factors need to be considered for researchers, except studying the corresponding theoretical outcomes from the past. Primary factor is the effort the research could pay, which directly determine the quality of the outcomes. Even if a scholar works hard in his/her field, he/she has to consider whether the objective of the research is reasonable and applicable, whether both the hardware and software equipments are powerful enough to run the research, or whether there are enough extant theories to support the idea.
Beyond the concession, what makes the history so important is that the developing rules remains since the very beginning, and we can use the rules in our studies. In natural sciences, all people need to do is to discover profound law of nature—how it works and affect matters. These knowledges could be delved deeper based on the scrutinized outcomes from the past, since all the knowledges are interrelated and connected. Just consider the conditions of biology, for example, people have discovered the information of nature gradually. From the simple zoology and botany through observing, to the discovery of cells, and then the studies from the perspective of micro world like DNA and molecules, the information tree of biology grown bigger. From this consideration, all of the studies is the deeper development of previous studies, just like the case of build a skyscraper—we do not have start from the bottom but add materials on the top of the building. Just as the famous physics Isaac Newton said, “If I have seen a little further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Viewing this fashion, we could conclude that studies from the past is of vital importance.
Additionally, in other fields, the past achievement is equally the key to the success of studies and creating. In social sciences, researchers of a field could obtain rich sources of inspirations form he past outcomes for formulating new theories in that field. Form past researchers’ classical cases, we could not only emulate their patterns of thought, but also get experience for either successful or failed cases. Even in creative fields such as arts and literature, mastering the achievement of the past is a precondition of creating new works. As is known to all, since Beethoven was strongly affected by the works from Bach, Mozart and other composers, he was able to connect the era of classicism and romanticism. Actually, great works form the past inspires thousands of creators to produce even better works.
In sum, even though past achievement is not the only factor that contribute to the present studies, yet it is one of the most vital contributor to develop human being’s knowledge and culture. Literally, natural sciences are all on the basis of the scrutiny, examination and utilization of the previous theories. Social studies, arts and literature, further, are profoundly affected by the works in the history.
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发表于 2015-1-7 21:40:11
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