24 Examples of Historical Perspective

John Spacey, August 27, 2022

Historical perspective is the way things were viewed and understood at a time and place in the past. There is a vast gap between the way that things are viewed now and how they were viewed in the past such that interpretations of history are inherently influenced by modern ideas. Objective consideration of historical perspective is required to produce valid historical analysis. The following are common elements of historical perspective.

Beliefs	Concepts
Economic Realities	Education
Group Memberships (e.g. family)	Ideology
Information Environment	Language
Life Experiences	Lifestyles
Living Conditions	Norms
Occupation	Politics
Religion	Roles & Responsibilities
Sensibilities	Social Realities
Social Structure (e.g. socioeconomic class)	Symbols
Technological Environment	Traditions
Values	Working Conditions

Historical perspective should not be confused with the political perspective or point of view of a historian.

Language changes with time whereby new concepts are added and old concepts may fade. As such, it is very difficult to imagine how people thought in the past.

Another barrier to understanding historical perspective is hindsight bias whereby you know how the future works out. For example, a decision that is reasonable at a time and place that looks irrational in the future due to how things work out.

Viewing the past without proper consideration of historical perspective is a bias or fallacy known as presentism.

Overview: Historical Perspective
Type	Historical Context
Definition	The way things were viewed and understood at a time and place in the past.
Related Concepts	Historical Context » Hindsight Bias » Presentism »