Reference no: EM133207709

Reread the quotes by Edward Gibbon below and then respond to the question(s) posed below it:

"The theologian may indulge the pleasing task of describing Religion as she descended from Heaven, arrayed in her native purity. A more melancholy duty is imposed on the historian. He must discover the inevitable mixture of error and corruption which she contracted in a long residence upon Earth, among a weak and degenerate race of beings." 9 "History is indeed little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind."

Do the same human flaws, foibles, scandals, acts of depravity, etc. reappear as a general rule with each human generation, or, based on the historical events of our period of study, does World War I, World War II and the proliferation of nuclear weapon prove Gibbon to be correct? Keep in mind that both world wars were the bloodiest wars in all of human history by several orders of magnitude, and that, currently, there are enough nuclear weapons on the planet to destroy it many times over. Or would you posit that human nature is, despite obvious and demonstrable setbacks, actually "improving" and getting closer to a world that is less plagued with the problems describe above in italics?