The Devil's Locomotive

Abstract

Tolstoy's peasant is a poor engineer but a committed metaphysician. He does not know what it is to be ignorant of mechanics, nor that the question could be answered in any other way. A view inside the locomotive's boiler and firebox would not enlighten; on the contrary, it would be a vision of hell. Adolescents rarely construe history in Tolstoyan fashion, but many of the assumptions they make about the subject are equally inappropriate. Listening to a history lesson in ignorance of the logic, perspectives, and methods of the subject is akin to watching a locomotive without an understanding of physics, factories, and economics. The action can be followed but its significance will prove elusive.

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