Historical events result from contingent decisions that could have gone otherwise

Evidence

Historian Jemar Tisby, in his book The Color of Compromise, notes that history is contingent. By this he means that people and organizations in our collective past made particular decisions at particular moments that resulted in where we find ourselves at present. By extension, had they made different decisions, Tisby notes—with no small measure of hope—we could well have inherited a very different world. — Andrew L. Whitehead, American Idolatry, 116

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines technical term ‘history is contingent’ for readers.
• XREF: connects to: Decisions are historically conditioned, so past choices constrain current ones — Jörg Sydow, Georg Schreyögg, and Jochen Koch, Organizational Path Dependence: Opening…, 11; Contingency of historical conjunctures is a precondition for political possibility; Historical patterns do not determine future outcomes — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 33 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• The inevitability of history is an illusion of hindsight rather than real determinism #corroborates (0.95) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 216
• Contingency of historical conjunctures is a precondition for political possibility #expands (0.90)
• Historical inevitability claims overreach; the past never dictates the future #corroborates (0.90)
• Decisions are historically conditioned, so past choices constrain current ones #qualifies (0.85) — Jörg Sydow, Georg Schreyögg, and Jochen Koch, Organizational Path Dependence, 11
• Historical actors act under circumstances transmitted from the past, not freely chosen #complicates (0.85)
• Society results from improbable contingent events, not natural human action #corroborates (0.85) — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 15
• Historical patterns do not determine future outcomes #corroborates (0.80) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 33
• Multiple equilibria mean historical accidents determine which trust regime emerges #exemplifies (0.80)
• Revolutionary moments compress time so individuals’ instant decisions shape history #exemplifies (0.80)