Somebody has commented that if you are trying to solve a chess problem, of the kind where you have a diagram of a board with a few pieces on it and have to work out the winning move for White, it is not necessary to know what moves led to the position on the diagram. If, however, you are a doctor dealing with a patient showing certain symptoms of illness, part of the diagnosis will certainly be taking a medical history of the patient in order to understand what may have led to the ambiguous symptoms