ABSTRACT
The formulation of a manifesto for ‘history’ for the future involves not only speculation but advocacy – not only a theoretical presentation of one’s hopes and fears but some practical ideas of what one might do about them. All too often, and especially of late, it seems to me that the philosophy of history has become detached from its practice – taking off into scholastic-style ‘cobwebs of learning’ that seem of little relevance to toilers in the field; and at the same time those toilers (empirically orientated historians) themselves have had minimal impact on the way people actually live their lives. I shall start, then, with a diagnosis, and some attempted assessment of where, educationally and culturally, we are and where we seem to be heading; and then, in the light of that, propose my own remedy, or treatment, or manifesto which – at the risk of reducing tension by revealing my plot at the outset – will be based on the Roman poet Terence’s idealistic embrace of all things human.1
