They are providing us with a collective memory. In pursuing these and other questions in studying the broad flows or narrow rivulets of history, historians are conducting an important service not only to other scholars but also to humankind in general. While the passage of time and the accumulation of events often make this search elusive, historians nevertheless persevere in asking basic questions such as: What really happened? What significance did it have? How should we view the past? Good historians, like good social scientists, conduct their research in the philosophical search for the truth. Historians dare to continue the research of past developments, not only recording events and trends, but also interpreting and reinterpreting them using both traditional and innovative methodologies.
While some would consider history to be a superfluous discipline without application to the present and future, we at the Athens Institute consider it essential to knowledge and understanding in the social sciences, education, the media, and the humanities.Ĭonsciously and unconsciously we scholars in other disciplines often use past experiences as frames of reference for the study of current and future trends in our investigations of state, society, economy and culture. For the last three years, the inclusion of an annual history conference in December has filled a lacuna in the conference and publication activities of the Athens Institute. It is a collection of essays from the Institute’s Third International Conference on European History, held in Athens on December 28 and 30, 2005. It is with a great deal of pride and pleasure that we are publishing the fifth publication of the Athens Institute for Education and Research in the field of historical studies.
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