History Science as a System of Human Experience Linked in a Inexorable Chain

Introduction

Towards the end of part eight of this chapter, the author described history as a system, “the system of human experience linked in a single, inexorable chain” (Gasset, 1932). It is a systematic science of reality that presents in the most rigorous and actual sense of the world. The author’s position on history is quite different from the general definition of history many people are used to, as something related to past activities. The author argued that there is a causal link between history and human life. Moreover, man’s life is the product of what he or other people did, as he said, “people should know that past is past not because it happened to others, but because it forms part of our present of what we are in the form of having been, because in short it is our past” (Gasset, 1932, p. 212). However, the beginning of this eponymous work drew my attention, especially regarding the concept of human life.

History Science as a System of Human Experience Linked in an Inexorable Chain

The author stresses that there is no choice for human beings to exist but to ensure their existence; they are obliged to do something to keep themselves in existence. This concept reminds me of a sage who claimed that, “If I stop reading, I will die because my mind, which keeps me alive through reading, will no longer be functioning.” Therefore, to make life (existence) meaningful, one should do something. What am I doing to make my life meaningful now and in the future? Do we choose to exist? Gasset argues that life is given to us not as a readymade; we should make life for ourselves (Gasset, 1932, p. 165). However, risk-taking is advised by the author since everyone has a duty to make his own life; therefore, before doing anything, a person should decide for himself whatever he is going to do at his own risk. Life also should be built with some beliefs but not negative beliefs. Negative in the sense that you don’t trust yourself that you can do something. For instance, there are people who believe that everything is tough for themselves, and so they can’t do it.

Success always begins with a positive belief. The writer of this book viewed belief not as merely an idea or a thought; rather, it is an idea in which a person believes (Gasset, 1932, p. 167). He insisted that believing is not an operation or work of intellectual mechanism but is the function of the living being as such, the function of guiding conduct and performance of his work. This is what brings success. Man is the entity that makes itself, an entity which traditional ontology only stumbled upon precisely as its course was drawing to a close, and which, as a consequence, it gave up the attempt to understand. For Gasset, a person should not only make himself the weightiest thing, but what he has to do is determine what he is going to be. Moreover, man is nothing without imagination, without the capacity to invent for himself a conception of life to ideate the character he is going to be (Gasset, 1932, p. 203). Human life is not an entity that changes accidentally; rather, it is the reverse.

The Role of Experience and Society

However, the author argues that if the reality of my life at the moment is what it is, what it is going to be depends on what is commonly called ‘experience of life.’ This experience of life is not composed of my past I personally experienced, but it is also of the past of my forebears handed down to me by society (Gasset, 1932, p. 210). The prediction of what society is going to be at a certain time period depends a lot on what it has been. Meaning that the past will determine or will build the future. The best or poor future depends on what the society has done or is doing in the past and present, respectively. The author continues to insist that everyone should take note of what is happening to him when faced with the great political problems of the day he desires to take up an attitude; he should take up an attitude (Gasset, 1932, p. 211). However, man remains to be what has happened to him or what he has done, and the experiments made with life narrow man’s future. This is to say, if we may not know what he or she is going to be, we know what he is not going to be because man lives based on the past (Gasset, 1932, p. 217).

Progress and the Lack of Nature

Another concept I find important in this chapter is man lacking nature but having history. History gives progress to the person, as the author affirms, “progress is only possible to one who is not linked today to what he was yesterday, who is not caught forever in that being which is already, but can migrate from it into another” (Gasset, 1932, p. 219). Even though it is not sufficient that man should be able to free himself from what he is already and take on a new form as the serpent sloughs its skin and is left with another. To progress is to accumulate being to store up reality. Man has no nature but history; it is because history is the systematic science of reality, which is life itself. It is the science of the present in the most rigorous and actual sense of the world.

The Importance of Truth

About truth, Gasset would say every individual should know the truth about everything (Gasset, 1932, p. 170). Truth contributes a lot to the life of a human being. In describing what truth is, the author stressed that ‘truth is what it is now and not what remains to be discovered in an undetermined future’ (Gasset, 1932, p. 182). In other words, truth is what we see and experience at the present; it is eternal. However, people should not lose hope when they face different challenges. They should also not allow passion to cloud their minds. Many tend to lose hope because of different challenges, troubles, and problems they are in. The author is reminding us that it is not the time to lose hope but to take courage and move ahead. Based on my own views, this chapter has nothing to do rather than reminding us that we are products of our own history. History can be bad or good, and both can be well recalled depending on how useful or tragic it is. What we should focus on is building a good history, which, as a result, contributes to a good ending or future. Since the author speaks about history being the system, I would like to add that it is the system of life. What we live today becomes the system tomorrow. In part eight of this chapter, the author tells us that before us there are diverse possibilities of being, but behind us lies what we have been and what we have been acting negatively on what we can be.

Conclusion

For example, when I was a child, I was a Christian; now I am no longer, but does this mean that I cannot go on being a Christian? The theme remains: our lives are products of our own history. In concluding, the author is challenging his readers to understand that life is made upon some systems which are the result of history. Therefore, the life of an individual is built under a certain history. However, risk-taking is the point made by the author at the beginning of his essay as he has trapped my mind, as he said, “each person before doing anything must decide for himself and at his own risk what he is going to do” (Gasset, 1932, p. 166). This will help him or her to become who he wants to be.

References

Gasset, J. O. (1932). The Revolt of the Masses. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.