Counterfactualism in History A point made in the third of these essays, on the value of history, was the widespread human enjoyment of a good story. It was suggested that history played a part in satisfying this need. The consistent success of fiction based on a simple form of counterfactual history — Robert Harris's "Fatherland" is a good recent example — seems to indicate that this type of history is equally appealing. Sometimes known as "what if", or "alternative" history, or, in the title of a recent collection of serious counterfactual essays edited by Niall Ferguson, "virtual history", it takes as its starting point some historical event, assumes that it turned out differently — Harold wins at Hastings or Napoleon at Waterloo — and develops a possible course of events from then on. All of this has great potential for some intriguing speculation, particularly so in the case of events within living memory, as shown by Harris's bestseller. However is that all that can be said for counterfactual history? Is it no more than a supply of good storylines for novelists, shading perhaps into something not unlike science fiction? It certainly does do these things, no doubt thereby adding to the gaiety of nations, but I believe that there are some more serious points to be made in its favour, and that it is a wider concept than what has just been described. We shall however have to attempt to deal with some highly unfavourable opinions of counterfactualism held by many professional historians. Consideration of these views may in fact help us to a better understanding of the true meaning of counterfactualism. I think there is certainly one dimension of alternative history which has as much philosophical content as merely fic... ... middle of paper ... ...ledge about the history of our planet and its lifeforms calls for an approach in which the examination of countless possible alternatives plays an essential part. So although we should probably concede that counterfactual history of the purely "might have been" kind may be more suited to fiction than to serious historiography, its main benefit lying in its entertainment value, we should still maintain that there are forms of counterfactual thinking which are of very real value to the historian. In addition to the use of the concept as an aid to understanding the evolutionary past which we have just mentioned, other benefits include not only understanding what alternatives would have been considered by historical agents, but also the possibility of making reasonable assessments of what would have been the likely outcomes of decisions which in fact were not made.
Sandra Steingraber, an ecologist and author of the essay “Despair Not”, focuses her essay on the ongoing environmental issues, “In fact, the
Rubenstein Richard, The Cunning of History. Harper and Row, 1975. Retrieved on December 04, 2013.
Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History by historian David Christian explores a “modern creation myth” (2). Christian takes his readers from the big bang to modern day in a technical and historical narrative. He believes that big history is a new, yet important, area of history ignored by historians. Christian tells us big history is “a coherent story about the past on many different scales, beginning, literally, with the origins of the universe and ending in the present day” (2). The strength in Christian’s argument is in that he carefully takes his readers through each stage in history, much like a textbook, using charts, graphs, pictures, and the language for each area, like astronomy or biology. However, Christian’s goal is not complete. Christian, at multiple points, tells his readers there are many more details and theories that surround any one of his given subjects. Although his book is a great overall coverage for a topic as large as big history, his readers may wonder if such the idea of big history is a good one.
Pancreatic cancer is the fourth most dangerous cancer in the United States, and the more we learn about it, the less deadly it becomes. This cancer begins in the Pancreas, a gland behind the stomach, that aides in digestion and disperses hormones critical to keep our body functioning. While many people have a mild understanding of pancreatic cancer, most do not realize that “pancreatic cancer” is an umbrella term for many different types of cancerous tumors. The most common of these is the adenocarcinoma, which begins in the ducts of the pancreas
In her novel The Daughter of Time Josephine Tey looks at how history can be misconstrued through the more convenient reinterpretation of the person in power, and as such, can become part of our common understanding, not being true knowledge at all, but simply hearsay. In The Daughter of Time Josephine claims that 40 million school books can’t be wrong but then goes on to argue that the traditional view of Richard III as a power obsessed, blood thirsty monster is fiction made credible by Thomas More and given authenticity by William Shakespeare. Inspector Alan Grant looks into the murder of the princes in the tower out of boredom. Tey uses Grant to critique the way history is delivered to the public and the ability of historians to shape facts to present the argument they believe.
We make choices every day, from waking to sleeping our day is composed of choices and the results of these choices. These choices help to shape us to who we are and want to be. But, these results may not be foreseen and may be adverse or favorable depending on the situation. Topics and events in our history ranging from the literacy of common man to unnecessary gun violence were a result of un-foreseen consequences. Our world’s history has been shaped by these consequences forming the world to where we are today.
Young, Steve A. and Sahito, Imdad Hussain. "Reviving the United States' Commitment to Pakistan and Afghanistan," Journal of Strategic Security 2, no. 4 (2009): 17-30.
Threshold 5 tackles the beginning of life on Earth. This is where any living things are characterized by metabolism, homeostasis, and reproduction. Over time, the genetic makeup of any living thing change so later generations being slightly different. This results into diversification and the evolution of certain species that best suit their environment. However, threshold 5 also deals with the idea of dealing with the “natural world.” It may seem that the environment is almost entirely man-made but the “natural world” is still a huge part of the environment. This can be simple as the earth on the ground, the air that people breathe in, or even the sun that provides the heat and light to the planet. However, as human technology progresses the “natural world” becomes less and less apparent in the world today.
Pancreatic Cancer is the third deadliest cancer in the world. The disease gets much less funding and recognition than many cancers that are nowhere near a deadly as Pancreatic Cancer. The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network also helped establish the World Pancreatic Cancer Coalition.
Pancreatic cancer is a disease that malignant cells are found in the tissues of the pancreas, and it involves carcinomas of the head of the pancreas, hepatic pancreatic ampulla, the common bile duct, and the duodenum. Although tumours can develop from the both exocrine and endocrine tissues, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDAC) is the commonest pancreatic cancer arising from the exocrine parenchyma in the duct of the pancrease and it occurs most frequently in the head of the pancreas. or the …,
The earliest discovery of Pancreatic Cancer is linked back to the 18th century by Giovanni Battista. Pancreatic cancer occurs when cells in your pancreas develop mutations in their DNA. These mutations cause cells to grow uncontrollably and to continue living after normal cells would die. These accumulating cells can form a tumor. The p53 and BRCA2 genes make a protein that slows or prevents growth of normal cells and protects the cells against cancer.The p53 tumor suppressor is one of our defenses against this type of damage. Tumor suppressor genes, a mutation (an abnormal change in the gene) of the p53 and BRCA-2 gene induces cells to produce abnormal proteins that alters the growth of the cell. Recent studies have suggested that BRCA2
Pancreatic cancer begins in the tissue of the pancreas, then spreads rapidly into nearby organs such as the stomach, small intestine, liver, gallbladder, spleen, and bile ducts. Known risk factors for pancreatic cancer is the chronic inflation of the pancreas, diabetes, smoking, obesity, and if a person is over the age of sixty-five, their chances of cancer
"The Value of Cunning Over Strength." Blog. WorldPress.com, 13 Oct. 2012. Web. 03 May 2014.
Currently, this matter is being resolved new innovated ways are being studied to help further diagnose and “cure” pancreatic cancer. Something innovated that happened was Onivyde was approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration. The new drug's effectiveness was evaluated in studies involving 417 people with advanced pancreatic cancer. People treated with a combination of Onivyde and the anti-cancer drugs lived an average of 1.9 months, longer compared those just treated the anti-cancer drugs (Roberts). Another innovated step that occurred was researchers identified a potential biological marker for detecting pancreatic cancer in its early stages—a protein attached to vesicles that circulate in blood (NCI Staff). All in all, pancreatic cancer is starting to get the attention it needs, but isn’t quite there yet. Pancreatic cancer is a big deal that needs to be resolved, because it has one of the highest death rates of any disease in the United
Negative stimulus automatically triggers the response of counterfactual thinking. The different effects of counterfactual thinking integrate in to a functional model that contrasts positive consequences of the inferential mechanism (Myers & Twenge 72-73). Thoughts that relate to adverse emotional circumstance of the past and hypothetical reinterpretations of history, one is bound to experience feelings of despair, intense sense of loss, and regret. Social psychologist have studied the worth of thinking and feeling of a counterfactual character and in the process confirming that undesirable emotions could arise from counterfactual discerning. The social psychological theory could functionally become beneficial to individuals with an integrated possibility of causal inference. In most circumstances, extreme events activate the counterfactual specially the influential negative consequences and the version of the past established the