Open Discussion - Judging the Past!

Please join us in the Library meeting room for an open discussion on this topic. 

Some thoughts on the topic are shared below.  

Please note that seating is limited - please RSVP to secure a place. We will be limiting to 14 people. 

Tearing down statues of slave traders, politicians, and generals, removing texts from libraries, ‘de-colonising’ the curriculum, destroying works of art by dead artists who had the ‘wrong’ view or removing art and other symbols which have become offensive. Just some examples of judging people and things from the past by current narratives.

Judging the past by today’s morals is generally defined as ‘presentism’. The OED defines presentism as: “A bias towards the present or present-day attitudes, esp. in the interpretation of history.” (However, it is a slippery concept with several interpretations, and philosophically, ‘presentism’ is the view that only present things exist).

Judging past behaviour against…