The subversive power of historical analogies
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20066641 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Antoon De Baets (0000-0002-5734-8193, Centre de Recherches Historiques, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Pages | 36-71 |
| Publication date | 2019-03-04 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | CHAPTER |
| Venue | Historical Parallels, Commemoration and Icons (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.4324/9780429507991-3 |
| OpenAlex | W2911943717 |
| ISBN | 9780429507991 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
This chapter explores only the subset of historical analogies created for political purposes. Obviously, the general attitude of the censorship apparatus – the ears and eyes of the autocrat – to subversive historical analogies is inimical because of their potentially destructive impact on the regime they serve. Drawing historical analogies is the historian’s second nature. The mere chronological dimension of history begs for comparison over time and makes the use of historical analogies a spontaneous professional technique for historians. Analogical thinking is expressed in the old dictum historia magistra vitae: history is the teacher of life. Historical analogies are similarities drawn between at least two entities, one located in the past, the other in the present. Refusing to embrace the idealized version of the autocratic leader as shown in such propagandistic analogies can be dangerous. Analogies are often implausible or false and, when they are plausible and pertinent, incorrectly used in an argument
Physics · Thermodynamics · History · Philosophy, History, and Historiography
| Citations per year | 0.2 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2021 - 2021 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |