Because they would have to become themselves first. Because first they would have to decide who not to be. Because few women have much empathy with men. Croce meant that historians always look on the past from a vantage point in the present. Every historian carries the problems and challenges of his or her time into his or her researches.
Past events possess no intrinsic meaning.
The past is mute. The burden of history is to make the past speak. Croce judged historians by their success in awakening what was living in the past. To Croce this meant that history writing afforded the opportunity to reveal the concept of liberty realizing itself in human affairs. Requests for reprints should be sent to Gordon Patterson, Ph.D., Department of Humanities, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Florida 32901.