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COPYRIGHT 2000 Professors World Peace Academy
It is difficult to number the times I have come across Santayana's apothegm, "If we do not remember the past, we are comdemned to repeat it" in an essay that presents it as the epitome of wisdom. If all that is implied is that knowledge of the past provides a repertoire of information that be useful, I would have no quarrel with it. However it may seems to suggest that we should remember the mistakes of the past so that we do not repeat them. In this form, I find the instruction misleading.
In its simplest form, it seems to be stating an obvious truth. For instance, if I lent Johnny money on four previous occasions and if he did not repay me, I should be wary of repeating this error. However, I do not believe something this simple was intended. And I would respond, "Be wary of simplistic parallels to past experience."
Let me cite two examples. In 1950, I was visited by a member of the Egyptian delegation to the United Nations, Abdullah El Erian, an old friend, who asked me whether the...
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