My old college mentor at Princeton, Arthur Szathmary, a genuinely wise man, once told me that in the mid-1950s he was at a cocktail party with a number of other faculty, and the topic of historical explanation arose. A (then) young and brilliant, but fervently Christian and very conservative historian stated with a great finality, "You can't understand hsitoey without understanding original sin." There was a hush. Szath said, "I was embarassed for him, and then I realized that half of the people there were nodding their heads. I became frightened and excused myself shortly."
--jks
>
>Nathan Newman wrote:
>
>>Unfortunately, those who insist on such explanations of the morally
>>unexplainable cheapen and disgrace the anti-war movement. Sometimes
>>criminals are just criminals
>
>What is this, an original sin theory of human behavior? I'm still
>trying to comprehend the spectacle of a very smart guy with two
>advanced degrees dismissing the importance of explanations. Even
>horrific behavior can, and should, be explained, no?
>
>Doug
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