Hindsight : the promise and peril of looking backward

Title: Hindsight : the promise and peril of looking backward

Author: Mark Freeman

Pages: 247

Call Number: BF378.H54 .F74 2010

Synopsis: Although the idea of hindsight is frequently associated with deceit, bias, and the distortions of memory, Mark Freeman argues here that hindsight--the process of looking back over the terrain of the past from the standpoint of the present--may also be viewed as a profoundly important source of understanding, insight, and moral growth. Indeed, hindsight can be, and often is, a source of truth-of a sort, Freeman contends, that is only available by looking backward. Think of Tolstoy's Ivan Ilych, reexamining his past as he lay dying, only to learn that the life he had lived had been a lie: here, hindsight provides a corrective lens for viewing the past, allowing one to see what one could not, or would not, see earlier on. In addition, hindsight is intimately connected to what Freeman terms narrative reflection; for, through the distance conferred by time, one can look back on past experiences and see them as parts of an emerging whole, episodes within an evolving story. Drawing on psychology, philosophy, literature, memoir, and personal experience, this engaging volume offers an insightful exploration of the role of hindsight both in discerning the truth of one's past and in crafting a good and worthy life.