谢振礼 GRE issue 范文: 历史错觉 history illusion
GRE Issue
China 2018-06-07
Topic:
The main benefit of the study of history is to dispel the illusion that people living now are significantly different from people who lived in earlier times.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.
Essay:
The study of history is the study of humanity, and studying history shows us that by nature people today are the same as people in the past. Although technology changes all the time, human nature will never change. So, it is an illusion that people living now are significantly different from people who lived in earlier times. To support this argument, this essay will explore the interrelations of history and human nature, explain whether human nature is basically good or bad, and give a compelling reason why we should study history.
Exploration of the interrelations between history and human nature requires a detailed understanding of what human nature is. However, no matter what human nature is, people are so much the same, in all times and places. Like our predecessors, we still have the same senses and limits. Like the ancients, we will keep eating, mating, loving, hating, laughing, crying … and dying. Studying history reveals that people are similar to each other, regardless of where and when they live, and that many differences which arise in different environments are illusions rather than truths. And those illusions can be dispelled by studying human nature as it is and as it always was. For that matter, it is true that human nature is not similar to animal nature, but it is not true that human nature today is different from human nature in the past.
Fundamentally speaking, are humans good or bad today and were humans good or bad in the past? It is a question that has constantly been asked throughout humanity. For thousands of years, philosophers have debated whether we have a basically good nature that is corrupted by society, or a basically bad nature that is kept in check by society? As understood by philosophers, on the good side, human virtues include generosity, sacrifice, mercy, compassion, modesty, and bravery; while on the bad side, human vices include lust, greed, cruelty and envy. It is too obvious to say that today’s people are not much different from their ancestors in human behaviors. Strangely enough, those listed virtues and vices are not mutually exclusive, and indeed history has witnessed the interplay of good and bad human nature.
By far the biggest reason to study history is because history repeats itself. It is important to read and learn about others’ mistakes in the past so that we do not commit the same mistakes in the future. It is also important to not repeat the kind of things that have not really helped the world in any way but only added to the miseries of mankind. In this regard, we must remember that we are not only studying what people in earlier times did but also we are trying to understand what mistakes have they committed and why? This means that if we repeat the same mistakes, we will reach the same disasters. It is only after the study of history that we can assess the mistakes of the preceding generations.
In conclusion, it is worth understanding the interrelations between history and human nature, accepting people being good and bad by nature, and learning from history so that people will not repeat the same mistakes. It is an illusion to see that people living now are significantly different from people who lived in earlier times. In history, human nature is the same today as it always was.
