I was never very good at history, with all those names and dates, kings and queens, battles and plagues. I could never memorise them in the correct order. It was a confusing jigsaw with pieces that sometimes did not fit.
I was much better at science, with its principles, rules and processes. One thing would lead to another; it was all interlinked. When I first went to university, a very long time ago, I studied practical sciences, chemical analysis, microscopic cytology, pharmacology etc. etc. I had to learn a lot of theoretical stuff too, such as atomic theory and biochemical processes. But it all fitted together.
Then a professor told me that science wasn't always like this. He reminded me that what we call 'science' today is very different from the alchemy, magic, and invention that preceded it. I opted for a course entitled 'The history of scientific thought'. This was not 'history of science' which would have resulted in more lists of discoveries and discoverers to memorise. Neither was it 'philosophy of science' looking at what scientists do and if their results are 'true'.
The history of scientific thought describes a process in which ideas are developed, are accepted, and then become dogma. Until they are replaced by a new theory. This can be catastrophic, or evolutionary. As I began to appreciate how these contradictions were resolved, my approach to the history of ideas became dialectical
Decades later, a course of study in 'the history of ideas' earned me a Master of Arts (Birkbeck, University of London 2012). I am quoting this as my academic credentials for this blog. I will be writing about radical ideas in history, and about radical thinkers who changed our ideas about the world and how it works.
The streets of London, my home for nearly fifty years, are an encyclopedia of ideas. Big Ideas such as 'empire' and 'capitalism'. Culture and creativity in literature, drama, cinema, broadcasting, etc. Progress in society through science, technology,
trade, economics, politics, and much else. London will be central to much of what I write here.
Derek Perry