The Purposefulness of History

Document Type : Research Paper

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Abstract

"The future of history" or "The purposefulness of history" is deeply rooted in human thought attracting much study and scrutiny since ancient times. In recent decades a new discipline titled "future study or history of the future" has been added to the curriculum of academic establishments. Although many thinkers look at this phenomenon from a religious viewpoint, a number of other intellctuals have approached it from a philosophical point of view. Accoiding to their position, these intellectuals have tried to understand "history as reality", find out it's future direction, and thus open a window to "the future" and predict the panorama for the future human life.
In this papers after dealing with the "purposefulness" approach, the short-sightedness of other views and theories on "the future of history" is brought to life. However, from a scientific point of view, the existing ambiguities about the issue remain unanswered as to whether with the assumption of the existence of a reality called "history" (through which only a limited number of dimensions and aspects of past human life can be brought to life) it is possible to prove the "purposefulness of history" and predict the future. In other words, the question is whether the future of history, based on duman knowledge and on top of all historical findings, can be recognized and understood or whether to imagine such a phenomenon is the result of unscientific hallucinations of human beings. This article deals with the various aspect, of this theory.

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