Positive History
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Research on how the study of humanities can impact well-being is one of the developments in the Positive Psychology movement.[1] Inspired by this movement, and falling within the domain of the newly emerging field known as Positive Humanities,[2][3][4] Positive History refers to an approach to history which focuses on human flourishing and well being. Darrin McMahon's research on the intellectual history of happiness is one example of positive history.[5][6][7][8] Another approach describes it as "a positive spin on key aspects of modern society."[9] Still another approach aligns "positive history" with multiperspectivity as a means to "prepare the ground for the insight that it is necessary to find a consensus on the past, not in terms of collective guilt, but as a collective responsibility for reconciliation and a peaceful living together in the future."[10]
Aristotle's ethical theory, and specifically the importance that he places on the role of the virtues in human flourishing, is central to Positive Psychology, Positive Humanities, and therewith, Positive History.[11]
Positive history can focus on stories of inspiration and cooperation which are illustrative of specific virtues, including, but not limited to, the four Cardinal Virtues (Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, Temperance). As McMahon explains:
"the role of happiness in human flourishing was absolutely central -- historians wanted to study paragons of virtue -- people who had lived exceptional lives and those exceptional lives were thought of quite self-consciously as exemplary that they illustrated in practice the propositions of the philosophers they showed how a good life could be lived.[12]
While the study of "paragons of virtue" is one example of content intervention, other content such as the study of events and documents can be used in the cultivation of virtue. Emerging research suggests that the virtue of humanity and the virtue of justice can be developed in this way. [13]
Another description describes positive history as "the stories of international cooperation, the development of the normative framework that is still being worked on and developed in the intergenerational and international project."[14] The common thread uniting these different approaches is the centrality placed on human flourishing and well being in the study of history. Darrin McMahon notes how he hopes that history, which has primarily focused on the negative in history (the history of man's inhumanity to man), includes more stories from "the other side" in which human excellence and virtues such as optimism and joy are emphasized.[15] While Positive Psychology emerged in the late 1990s, historical narratives which focus on human well being instead of atrocities were championed by many in the 19th century Peace through Law Movement such as Bertha von Suttner, Cora Slocomb di Brazza, historian Philip van Ness Myers and educator EC Warriner.
Learning Positive History: affective dimensions[edit]
Understanding positive history consists in a type of intellectual activity and memory work that is distinct from the intellectual and emotional work known as Vergangenheitsbewältigung. Whereas Vergangenheitsbewältigung is memory work in which difficult history is overcome or transcended, positive history can include memory work in which inspirational history is found or discovered. Thus the understanding of positive history has a different "affective signature" than does Vergangenheitsbewältigung. The word "schatzwiederentdeckung" (literally, "finding buried treasure") has been coined to describe the work of distinct intellectual and emotional experiences that can accompany learning positive history.[16] Awe, wonder, respect and gratitude are emotions that are commonly experienced when learning about positive history.
One author writes about the emotional response generated when one holds learns about a virtuous individual, and hence beholds in one's mind, a virtuous character:
To hold this character in one's mind, to bear witness to it, causes the response [of]... reverence, awe, gratitude, hope and an inspiration for humane action.[16]
Objects of study[edit]
Stories of positive history can include stories of persons, places, ideas and institutions. Paradigm cases include the development humanitarian norms into positive law such as that of the First Geneva Convention, an outgrowth of Henri Dunant's experience described in A Memory of Solferino.
Other examples include the work of author, philosopher and peace activist Bertha von Suttner including the inspiration and reception of her 1889 work Die Waffen nieder!. The work of Rafael Lemkin in the development of the genocide convention and the work of Ben Ferencz on the criminalization of aggressive war, are additional examples. These examples are of efforts aimed at organizing the world so as to minimize suffering and hence to prepare the ground for greater well being and flourishing.
Documents of positive history[edit]
The Korean Declaration of Independence of 1919 which stresses reconciliation rather than revenge, and urges that blame of oneself must precede "finding fault with others", is an example of a document of positive history. The reconciliatory sentiment of Korean Declaration of Independence tis also expressed by Stoic philosopher Epictetus in the Enchiridion. According to Chapter 5 the Enchiridion:
When, therefore, we are hindered or disturbed, or grieved, let us never impute it to others, but to ourselves—that is, to our own views. It is the action of an uninstructed person to reproach others for his own misfortunes; of one entering upon instruction, to reproach himself; and one perfectly instructed, to reproach neither others nor himself.
Positive History within atrocity and tragedy[edit]
Stories of positive history can be found within atrocity and tragedy. The register of "righteous individuals" compiled by Yad Vashem known as The Righteous Among the Nations is an extensive catalog of non-jews who rescued the Jews during the Holocaust. The eight volume Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations contains numerous stories which represent "the preservation of human values in a world suffering utter moral collapse"[17].
Inspired by Yad Vashem's project of the "Righteous Among the Nations", the reconciliatory and therapeutic narrative of the Jeju Uprising that occurred in South Korea from March 1, 1947 to September 21, 1948, also draws attention to "righteous individuals" such as Kim Ik-ryeol and Moon Hyeong-Soon who urged peace and non-violence during a period of extensive state violence.
History as past ethics and foresight for life (Lebensefürge)[edit]
Historian Philip van Ness Myers, who published in 1913 his book "History as Past Ethics: An Introduction to the History of Morals" can be seen as a precursor or even a classic text of "Positive History". Myers, who founded the Cincinnati Peace and Arbitration Society after attending a speech by Bertha von Suttner in 1904, introduced peace teaching in many of his books. In the closing chapter of History as Past Ethics, titled "The Moral Evolution and Democracy", Myers discusses the growth of "international conscience" and its connection to the movement for the abolition of war. Myers' view of history as moral development was influenced by the 1886 text "Kulturgeschichte der Menschheit in ihrem organischen Aufbau" (Cultural History of Mankind in its Organic Structure) by Julius Lippert, translated into English in 1931 as "The Evolution of Culture". According to Lippert, "Lebensfürge" ("care for life" or "foresight for life") is the primary driver of cultural development.[18] "This increasing burden of foresight is the essence of all cultural progress. On it alone the security of human existence depends," he writes.[19] The centrality of care/foresight, and the focus of its historical evolution and development, is another area of focus within positive history.
References[edit]
- ↑ Vaziri, H.; Tay, L.; Kieth, M.G.; Paweslki, J.O. (November 9, 2018). "History, literature, and philosophy: A systematic review of positive functioning". The Journal of Positive Psychology. 14 (6): 695–723.
- ↑ Tay, Louis; Pawelski, James (2022). The Oxford Handbook of the Positive Humanities. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0190064579. Search this book on
- ↑ Pawelski, James (2022). "The Positive Humanities: Culture and Human Flourishing". in The Oxford Handbook of the Positive Humanities: 17–42.
- ↑ Pawelski, James (Summer 2022). "The Positive Humanities: A Focus on Human Flourishing". Daedalus. 151 (3): 206–221.
- ↑ Pawelski, James (Summer 2022). "The Positive Humanities: A Focus on Human Flourishing". Daedalus. 151 (3): 212.
- ↑ McMahon, Darrin (2022). The History of The Humanities and Human Flourishing. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 45–56. ISBN 0190064579. Search this book on
- ↑ McMahon, Darrin (2006). Happiness: A History. Grove Press. Search this book on
- ↑ "History and Human Flourishing: An Interview with Dr. Darrin McMahon". Humanities and Human Flourishing.
- ↑ Stearns, Peter F. (February 13, 2020). "A Happy History?". The Historian. 81 (4): 613–626.
- ↑ Marko, Joseph (2012). Ethnopolitics. The Challenge for Human and Minority Rights Protection in Philosophical dimensions of human rights : some contemporary views (edited by Claudio Cordetti). Dordrecht/Springer. p. 288. Search this book on
- ↑ Peterson, Christopher; Seligman, Martin (2004). Character Strengths and Virtues:A Handbook and Classification. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195167015. Search this book on
- ↑ "History and Human Flourishing: An Interview with Dr. Darrin M. McMahon".
- ↑ Vaziri, H.; Tay, L.; Keith, M.G.; Pawelski, J.O. (2019). "History, literature, and philosophy: A systematic review of positive functioning". The Journal of Positive Psychology. 14 (6): 695–723.
- ↑ "The Next Page Podcast (UN Library and Archives Geneva)". A Conversation with Professor Hope Elizabeth May on Bertha von Suttner and the power of positive history. UN Library and Archives Geneva. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
- ↑ "History and Human Flourishing: An Interview with Dr. Darrin M. McMahon".
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 May, Hope Elizabeth (2018). The United States, The United Nations and the Jeju April 3rd Incident: A Story of Responsibility in The Jeju 4.3 Mass Killing: Atrocity, Justice and Reconciliation (edited by Park Myung Lim). Seoul: Yonsei University Press. p. 62. ISBN 9788968502965. Search this book on
- ↑ "The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations – Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust". The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations – Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust. Yad Vashem. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
- ↑ Reviewed Works: History as Past Ethics: An introduction to the history of morals. The Advocate of Peace. 1913. Vol. 75(7), p. 164
- ↑ Lippert, Julius (1931). The Evolution of Culture (translated and edited by George Peter Murdock). London: Allen and Unwin. p. 192. Search this book on
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