Philosophical musings on Quanta & Qualia;  Materialism & Spiritualism; Science & Religion; Pragmatism & Idealism, etc.

Logic & Dialectic represented by Plato & Aristotle

   Post 67. January 15, 2019

  The Dialectical Spirit of History

   The perennial struggle for freedom

 The 18th century philosopher G. W. F Hegel produced a series of lectures on The Philosophy of World History. Like most rational historians, and unlike many rational scientists, he assumed that the world was progressing in a particular direction, and for some good reason. In other words, both biological evolution and sociological history are more than just an erratic series of events, but happen according to a cosmic plan. Since he was a European protestant, the purpose propelling the world was assumed to be that of the Christian God. But his notion of divine power (Geist, Holy Ghost) flowing through the world, was idiosyncratic, in that he portrayed the Holy Spirit as similar to a physical evolutionary force rather than a person in the Holy Trinity, hence had no conscious entention of its own. Which was heretical to Catholic dogma.

Since his notion of social evolution preceded Darwin's theory, he interpreted it in religious and metaphysical terms rather than biological. He also believed that the "Absolute Spirit" or "Universal Mind" eventually emerged as human consciousness. Therefore, the evolution of Spirit was presented as a dialectical (overcoming opposition) progression toward freedom, which was manifested historically in several phases. His "oriental" Tyrannical Age was an early stage (pre-rational childhood) of crude civilization prior to the classical Greek era, which inaugurated the Adolescent period. Socrates' emphasis on reasoning and the dialectical method of refining Truth, was when the Spirit began to "awaken". But the evolutionary force only reached Maturity in the advent of Christianity. And it took another step in the Revolutionary Era of political struggles, and America was its vessel of the future.

At Adolescence, the world finally became self-aware, and at Maturity it became free to self-actualize. Historian Hegel made no prophecies of the future, but he seemed to envision that eventually humanity, via technology, would transcend its physical limitations, perhaps as Artificial Intelligence & Trans-humanism. In some ways, his view of evolution was similar to that of Teilhard deChardin, in that it is destined to follow an upward trend until it reaches its full potential at the Omega Point. [ See Post 63 ] However, when he prematurely wrote of the End of History, he imagined that the stuggle would be over in his own time. But the beat goes on.

I like Hegel's general notion of historical Dialectic, usually summarized in terms of "thesis", "antithesis", and "synthesis". But I interpret the historical forces from my own Deistic metaphysical assumptions, as expressed in the Enformationism thesis. In that theory, Spirit is EnFormAction, and Dialectic is how that evolutionary force progresses by overcoming obstacles due to inherent defects or negations in each phase. For example, physical evolution is a dialectic between Hot & Cold in terms of thermodynamics. But meta-physical evolution must overcome oppositions such as Liberal & Conservative in social dynamics. So, the world was not created as an idyllic Garden of Eden, but it slowly and painfully progresses in several hierarchical stages of physical and social evolution.

Like deChardin, Hegel’s notion of God seems to be more Pantheistic than Christian, in that the Geist is embodied in the world, and must gradually perfect itself by means of a struggle between Good & Evil. Thus, “Absolute Spirit” only comes to know itself as God at the end of the odyssey of overcoming. 

End of Post 67

Hegelian Dialectic :
A theory of historical development that is often attributed to the philosopher G.W.F. Hegel. It proposes that cultural understanding progresses, despite conflicts, via 3 stages labeled Thesis (a dominant cultural worldview or “-Ism”), followed by Antithesis (an opposing view), then to Synthesis (a blend of the prior views). Stage 3 then becomes the thesis for the next round of quarreling belief systems.

Historical Progression :
Georg Hegel introduced a system for understanding the history of philosophy and the world itself, often called the "dialectic" : a progression in which each successive movement emerges as a solution to the contradictions inherent in the preceding movement. http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/ philosophy/history/hegel_philosophy_history.html

Marxist Dialectic :
Karl Marx adopted Hegel’s concept of an evolving struggle for freedom, but denied the “spirit” thereof. His Communism was officially atheistic and materialistic. Although at first it was successful in appealing to both intel-lectuals and to the masses, it began to run out of steam as its mechanical power faded without inputs of energy from the compelling “spirit” (EnFormAction) behind both physical and metaphysical evolution.

Dialectic of Freedom :
“The history of the world is none other than the progress of the consciousness of freedom.” __Hegel

   He described social evolution in metaphysical terms as a struggle for grad-ual expansion of personal freedoms. Under polytheistic Oriental Despots, including Egypt, ordinary people were stuck in tightly constrained roles, and slavery was common. Then Egypt (briefly) and Persia became theo-cracies under a single sun god, who shone his blessings on all his worshippers, so both rulers and ruled were subject to the same divine laws. In Greece the notion of democracy opened up more opportunities for its citizens, though women and slaves were still limited in their liberties.
   The “spirit” of freedom continued to expand westward as Rome adopted some social ideas from Greece, including the philosophical systems of Stoicism, Skepticism, & Epicureanism. The next phase came when Rome adopted the Jewish religion, and remade it into an imperial state religion for a heterogeneous population – further relaxing the constraints on the lower classes – although women and slaves were still less free.  
   When the imperial church became corrupt, the “spirit” again rose up against domination from the top. First came the Protestant Reformation, along with the Enlightenment, and eventually culminating in the Age of Revolution in America and France. Social freedoms continued to progress when slavery and repression of women were outlawed.
   Now, the western world is mostly democratic, and its citizens are the freest in the world. But the struggle to overcome social restraints goes on, aided in part by the democratizing power of information technology.