Reposted by Nick Munn
the UK has three industries: higher education, whisky, and Games Workshop.
Nick Munn
@medievalmunn.bsky.social
87 followers 105 following 13 posts
PhD candidate @ QMUL. Working on masculinity and the doges in fifteenth-century Venice. Fond of cats. Charlton Athletic fan, for my sins.
![DC: Do you defend history because you see it as a source of social or ethical utility, in the sense it could help orient us in history…
NZD: I would say ‘useful’ in a very special sense. What human beings have done in the past, the enormous range in ways of living and possible actions, is a source both of hope and despair. how fascinating it is to consider this variety in human events. We can draw hope from it in the sense that if things have been different in the past, perhaps we’re in a position to make them a little different today [laughter] — at least a little bit different. When I say ‘usefulness’, I don’t mean that history offers us models that we can apply — the details of different situations are too unlike each other. History offer us ideas, points of view, perspectives, landmarks, indices — possibilities.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2xh3ekkjbuyi3e5pbfnakuyt/bafkreie4otn27raes5662df7fqh4d6ynptkgzdm5cuyfl4pmo6ruamlmiu)
![On 18 September 1933, Huizinga passed on the Rector’s baton to his successor. In Pieterskerk he reflected on the turbulent months behind him, ‘To enjoy the freedom to remain true to its calling, a university must apply its own standards to determine its duty and honour. And [a university] will believe that on occasion action is required that simply serves to defend the hallowed ground on which it stands.’](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2xh3ekkjbuyi3e5pbfnakuyt/bafkreidgpsgocrb3j5lxldvmcoojd3vzdstsik46ypu7rcg7edv3qdwawa)
