History: Metaphysical Drama or Naturalistic Dynamic
It seems obvious that a better means of examining the operating principles of historical change over time needs to be found. The problem: we’re looking at a standard temporal sequence, and just like that any natural sequence of events in time, human history as such has to follow the basic rules of all temporal sequences; and yet, because we’re talking about human events, it seems like it shouldn’t. In a nutshell, it seems as if human history should be a cut above all other histories and natural sequences in time … that it should run by a different playbook so to speak.
That’s the dilemma; and so, “history” in this instance ends up not being critically analyzed or examined because ‘how could you ever speak of or write about a true dynamics or mechanism of this discipline?’
But you can. There are ways to consider a dynamics of “history.” And, so, I’d like to examine one for the remainder of my post here, albeit by way of a mathematical, physics-related analogy.
Imagine if you will a basic graph, a frequency histogram as it were for the study of change over time, that is to say, for history. Three major peaks for the graph, each corresponding to a given historical turning point or climax in history. If you were to consider world history, the turning points might be for the great highlights of the Ancient World, the peak achievements of the Latter Middle Ages, and Modernity’s advancements. Or you could pick from a host of other examples from the sequence of human events or the current of natural history. The point is, the highlights are there, their number is a side issue; here I’ve just chosen three wave fronts for the ease of the illustration.
Now with each peak and valley of the wave, we have at least five (5) different operations taking place; the most obvious being the “Front” itself, indicated by the curving wave in red. This wave carrying forward the pulse of change isn’t a strictly isolated phenomenon because it works through the functions of the other agencies involved in the overall mechanism.
The most notable is the trigger of the dynamic … i.e., what got the ball rolling on the process in the first place. I’ve termed this agency the “Initiating Stimulus.” For all practical purposes, it’s a historical cause, and an integral one in that this cause sets of the chain reaction of a number of other historical or chronological effects or events that are taking place within the dynamic.
From the starting point of the “Initiating Stimulus,” the process moves forward through the first phases of the wave pattern itself. Carrying the imprint of the trigger’s initial push, a domino effect ensues where the “Transmitted Information” of the wave-pulse is taken along the course of the graph from its source in the “Initiating Stimulus.” As the first, and then subsequent wave-cycles round out, an immediate effect is made apparent in the process. Systemically-related structures in the dynamic synchronize themselves to the movement of the wave. They ebb and flow with the current that this dynamic brings; rising and falling (as “Synchronized Phenomena”) by “Orchestrated Emergence.”
Lastly, a fifth element or contributing factor is included in the process. I posit top-down forces acting on the dynamic as a balance to the bottom-up elements as represented by the blue bars, largely to point out that an additional feature is required of systems like these besides just the “Orchestrated Emergence” (or ‘self-organization’ to borrow the term from complexity theorist Stuart Kauffman) of respective “Synchronized Phenomena.” Therefore, in order to preserve system controls in this dynamic, some form of “Selective Mechanism(s)” must be present in this process.
Why have them and what would they be? That’s a good question; they’re needed, in fact, to make this process work and to round out the flowchart. Such systemic pressures or controls [represented by the orange bars of the diagram] are key influences on the way the wave plays itself out over time. And, as they do represent systemic influence over the process, we have to conclude they indicate the hand of (among other agencies) → environmental controls, time-related influences, and obviously in the case of living systems (and by extension human systems), the process of Natural Selection itself.
The reasons for having such ‘dynamic model’ of history in the first place here are threefold. The main reason is that, by applying such a model, you demystify “history.” History’s players, forces, units, and operations aren’t metaphysical or supernatural, so why should “history” itself be? Never before has there been such a need to naturalize history than there is at present. History isn’t mystical; it’s practical, grounded, and ultimately empirical. By applying dynamical concepts to “history”, you make it less likely to be used for political purposes.
But, you also aid the discipline by doing this. History’s less likely to become mired in shadowy obscurantism if the metrics of science and empirical inquiry are more thoroughly applied to it as with other time-series related phenomena and natural systems. Science, it’s true, can’t answer every question that’s out there, but it can (through the nonlinear dynamics) shed a great deal more light on human events and social development than we might normally expect in the general public.
Finally, the third reason for seriously considering ‘dynamic models’ and applying them to history … The ideas are out there; the innovative approaches to thinking about and studying human experience and indeed all historic change, are just waiting to be explored by scientists, social scientists, and historians. All that’s needed is the incentive and the motivation to do it … to pursue new research programs and conceptual systems that will result in a new Renaissance of human knowledge and social expression. The only thing holding people back on this is an idea. The ‘history-is-about-metaphysics’ meme.
Let’s hope this idea will soon give way to many of the other great ideas that are out there for exploring the substance of History.
dianoeidos 