The Political Interpretation of History

Ever since the inquisitive age in which Voltaire wrote his Philosophic Dictionary, reflection upon the course of human events has caused scholars to persist in the search for a rational interpretation of history. They have not been discouraged by the skepticism of historians who, like Froude, have argued that the address of history must be less to the understanding than to the higher emotions. “A science of history,” according to this historian, “implies that the relation between cause and effect holds in human things as completely as in all others; that the origin of human actions is not to be looked for in mysterious properties of the mind, but in influences which are palpable and ponderable.” Froude believed that “natural causes are liable to be set aside and neutralized by what is called volition,” and that in consequence “the word Science is out of place” in connection with the study of history. If, as Froude intimated, the origin of human actions can be found only in mysterious properties of the mind, the outlook for a rational interpretation of history may well be poor.