Niall Ferguson on Why We Study History

Conversations with Tyler

Society & Culture, Education

4.8 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 28 July 2021

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

While the modern historical ethos can be obsessed with condescending to the past based on our current value system, Scottish-born historian Niall Ferguson has aimed to set himself apart with his willingness to examine the past in its own context. The result is some wildly unpopular opinions such as “The British Empire was good, actually” and several wildly popular books, such as his latest Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe.

Niall joined Tyler to discuss the difference between English and Scottish pessimism, his surprise encounter with Sean Connery, what James Bond and Doctor Who have in common, how religion fosters the cultural imagination to produce doomsday scenarios, which side of the Glorious Revolution he would have been on, the extraordinary historical trajectory of Scotland from the 17th century through the 18th century, why historians seem to have an excessive occupation with leadership, what he learned from R.G. Collingwood and A.J.P. Taylor, why American bands could never quite get punk music right, Tocqueville’s insights on liberalism, the unfortunate iconoclasm of John Maynard Keynes, the dystopian novel he finds most plausible, what he learned about right and left populism on his latest trip to Latin America, the importance of intellectual succession and building institutions, what he’ll do next, and more.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.

Recorded June 18th, 2021

Other ways to connect

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram
Follow Tyler on Twitter
Follow Niall on Twitter
Email us: [email protected]
Subscribe at our newsletter page to have the latest Conversations with Tyler news sent straight to your inbox.

Thumbnail photo credit: Zoe Law

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Conversations with Tyler is produced by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University,
0:08.4	bridging the gap between academic ideas and real-world problems.
0:12.6	Learn more at mercatis.org.
0:15.2	And for more conversations, including videos, transcripts, and upcoming dates, visit
0:20.4	ConversationsWithT Tyler.com.
0:26.0	Hello everyone and welcome back to another ConversationsWithT Tyler.
0:29.8	Today I'm here with Neil Ferguson who needs no introduction and that's Neil N-I-A-L-L.
0:36.0	And Neil has a new book out called DOOM, The Politics of Catastrophe.
0:40.1	Neil, welcome.
0:41.6	It's great to be with you Tyler.
0:43.5	Has a general cultural matter?
0:45.8	How would you describe the difference between English pessimism and Scottish pessimism?
0:51.3	Well, English pessimism doesn't exist in the eyes of the Scots because the English
0:56.4	always expect to win the World Cup in soccer.
1:00.5	And therefore we are the view that they have a heubristic optimism that it's our role
1:05.6	periodically to puncture, not nearly often enough.
1:10.0	Scottish pessimism is different because the phrase were doomed, only really works in
1:16.0	a Scottish accent.
1:17.5	And I think this is fundamentally the difference between Calvinists and Anglicans or Episcopalians.
1:23.2	I grew up in the Calvinist west of Scotland, Glasgow and its environs.
1:29.3	And I think I had drummed into me a kind of pessimism that's only alleviated by gallows
1:35.4	humour.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Conversations with Tyler, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Conversations with Tyler and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.