Presentism used to be so simple. In the old vernacular it referred to a tendency to view the past from the perspective of the present (or, at its most extreme, maybe even use the past to illuminate the present). Historians disagreed furiously on the intellectual virtues of orienting their views of the past to the needs of the current day. But the content of the term itself was rarely disputed.

中文翻译：

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当下的幽灵：时间、当下主义与当代历史写作

现在主义曾经如此简单。在古老的白话中，它指的是从现在的角度看待过去的倾向（或者，在最极端的情况下，甚至可能用过去来照亮现在）。历史学家们对将他们对过去的看法与当今的需要相适应这一思想美德的观点大相径庭。但该术语本身的内容很少有争议。