History is the collective experience of mankind, and as such it teaches us lessons that may help us avoid in the future some of the mistakes we have made in the past. That requires thinking properly about the past, present and future. History shares with the other liberating arts, such as literature, philosophy or mathematics, the virtue of being able to train us to think. This does not mean necessarily training to think about particular things, but rather training in the process of thinking in general. A trained mind, one that is flexible and perceptive with respect to whatever new problem confronts it, is the most practical tool imaginable.
History is a mind-training discipline and has a practicality that is supreme.
Today more than ever we will have to use our wits and analytic power, if the human species is to survive. The modern world in which we live is in fact as revolutionary as everybody says it is. The profound contradictions that we confront everyday are not the result of mere perversity or simple folly. They are due to the tremendous developments in science and technology. These have led to far more rapid and radical change than any previous society has known.