Have you ever thought about what “history” is made of? It doesn't matter if it is world history or the history of your neighborhood, all history is made of the same thing.
In a previous post, I explained to you that Augustin Berque’s research sheds light on the different ways to grasp something: as risks, as constraints, as resources, or/and as amenities.
In this one, my main point will be to say that such an understanding is even more important because the way we grasp things can be seen as the very ground that makes “history.”
Don’t you agree? Let me explain.
From Grasping to History
What makes history is a pretty big question with a long history.
Let’s take the example of the Trojan War. According to Greek myth, the war began when Paris, a prince of Troy, took Helen, the wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta.
Paris’ seduction of Helen led Menelaus to seek revenge with the help of his brother, Agamemnon, king of Mycenae.
A coalition of Greek forces was formed, including renowned heroes such as Achilles, Ajax, and Odysseus, to march on Troy and reclaim the beautiful Helen.
What caused the war in this case? A conflict between Menelaus and Paris, who both wanted Helen for themselves.
Both saw Helen as an amenity. For Menelaus, Helen’s disappearance may have represented a kind of risk; the risk of losing some of his authority. For Paris, it may have been the opposite, an increase in his prestige in some way — then a resource — , to be able to seduce Menelaus’ wife and return to Troy with her.
This conflict is what we might call a “grasping conflict.” What I mean here by “grasping” is the basic way in which consciousness considers something or someone.
It is the incompatibility of the way Menelaus and Paris “grasped” Helen — in other words, the way they viewed their respective relationships with her — that led to the war in which the hero Achilles died.