Our history is full of stories confirming a certain type of repeated episodic determinism. Our fate also appears to succumb to repeated history. Are there any known reasons for this? Although I acknowledge the difficulty of this controversial question the facts and a pattern really exits. Historic recurrence is the repetition of similar events in history. The concept of historic recurrence has variously been applied to the overall history of the world (e.g., to the rises and falls of empires, or repetition of political regimes), to repetitive patterns in the history of a given polity, and to any two specific events which bear a striking similarity. Hypothetically, in the extreme, the concept of historic recurrence assumes the form of the Doctrine of Eternal Recurrence, which has been written about in various forms since antiquity and was described in the 19th century by Heinrich Heine and Friedrich Nietzsche. Nevertheless, while it is often remarked that “History repeats itself,” in cycles of less than cosmological duration this is maybe be true. In this interpretation of recurrence, as opposed perhaps to the “Nietzschean interpretation”, there is no metaphysics. Recurrences take place due to ascertainable circumstances and chains of causality. An example of the mechanism is the ubiquitous phenomenon of multiple independent discovery in science and technology, which has been described by Robert K. Merton and Harriet Zuckerman. G.W. Trompf, in his book The Idea of Historical Recurrence in Western Thought, traces historically recurring patterns of political thought and behavior in the west since antiquity. If history has lessons to impart, they are to be found par excellence in such recurring patterns. Historic recurrences can sometimes induce a sense of “convergence,” “resonance” or déjà vu. Three such examples appear under “Striking similarity.” But if we look backwards just in the matter regarding political regimes, there is an indisputable evidence of a pattern. From the antic times to 21 century we can see this. Democracy (born in ancient Greece) – Autocracy (Roman Empire) – Democracy (the French revolution) – Autocracy (new world regime, Communism) – Democracy (collapse of Eastern Europe, and so called “eastern block”). That is an undeniable proof pattern. When we look at this, through historic events it seems pretty scary, doesn’t it.
T. Teo
