Prior to the mid-Nineteenth century the subsequent discipline of history, largely designed by Von Ranke (or perhaps Marx), used a Newtonian scientific paradigm. It was mechanistic - events and people were moving objects which impacted upon other events and people according to histrical laws. This paradigm resulted in a language of "proven facts", proven hypotheses, and the assumption of teleological progression.

     Science itself has long abandoned this paradigm. Einstein destroyed it. Science adapted and moved on and has become, indeed, extraordinarily useful and fascinating to most ordinary people.

     The new paradigm of history will continue to be deterministic, but it will also be relativistic, and it will be directed more toward analysis and problem-solving to serve the presnt than it will be used for the preservation of some "proven" past. It will no longer be teleological - it will not assume a "progress", or a "plan", or a narrative drama.

Jack Betterly
Emma Willard School
285 Pawling Avenue
Troy, NY 12180
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