HEGELIANS OF THE RIGHT, HEGELIANS OF THE
LEFT
The philosophy of nineteenth-century philosopher
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel has been tremendously influential in Western
history in at least one very important respect—it is the direct origin of the
two dominant totalitarian ideologies of the twentieth century, communism and fascism, both of which have been massively destructive of human life and
society.
Moreover, communism and fascism are enormously
influential today. They are not dead letters, eccentric relics of the recent
past. They are living systems, organized, complex networks of ideas that
compete for the loyalty and blood of billions.
The Amazon.com introduction to a translation of
Hegel’s Reason in History says:
—Amazon book description of G. W. F. Hegel, Reason in History, translated by Robert S. Hartman, Taiwanese Chinese Edition (January 1, 1953)
Let’s take that paragraph apart, starting with Hegelian metaphysics.
Hegel’s metaphysics—metaphysics, meaning, philosophy of ultimate reality—has been described as Absolute Idealism. “Idealism,” as the term indicates, declares that ideas are the ultimate reality. Our empirical, sensible human experience of the world is not real, or at least, its reality is of a secondary order, subordinate to ideas that subsist at a basal, fundamental level, so that it is ideas that determine everything else.
Both expressions, “Hegelians of the Right” and “Hegelians of the Left,” originate from Hajo Holborn, “The Science of History” in The Interpretation of History (1943), edited by Joseph R. Strayer and published by Princeton University Press.
Hegel’s metaphysics—metaphysics, meaning, philosophy of ultimate reality—has been described as Absolute Idealism. “Idealism,” as the term indicates, declares that ideas are the ultimate reality. Our empirical, sensible human experience of the world is not real, or at least, its reality is of a secondary order, subordinate to ideas that subsist at a basal, fundamental level, so that it is ideas that determine everything else.
When we assert that ideas constitute reality at the
most fundamental level, we are in effect obliging ourselves to make our
understanding of reality conform to ideas, not the other way around. As a
consequence, ideas—which, organized for political purposes, constitute
ideology—are thereby given an absolute character.
Communism and fascism operate as a dictatorship of ideas, ideologies which are held to be reality and to which human thought and behavior, including social organization, are compelled to conform. In this manner the Absolute Idealism of Hegel accounts for the totalitarianism of communism and fascism.
Communism and fascism operate as a dictatorship of ideas, ideologies which are held to be reality and to which human thought and behavior, including social organization, are compelled to conform. In this manner the Absolute Idealism of Hegel accounts for the totalitarianism of communism and fascism.
In contrast to other types of idealism, Absolute
Idealism posits distinct—and defining—philosophical claims.
According to Hegel’s philosophical conception, reality is ordered toward historical realization.
In communism, the goal of history is utopian—unattainable, essentially—a society in which social classes no longer exist and the means of production are owned by all and operate for the benefit of all. The state does not exist, yet even without the state, the economy functions as it should, perfectly.
According to Hegel’s philosophical conception, reality is ordered toward historical realization.
In communism, the goal of history is utopian—unattainable, essentially—a society in which social classes no longer exist and the means of production are owned by all and operate for the benefit of all. The state does not exist, yet even without the state, the economy functions as it should, perfectly.
Fascism is similar to communism in that the former also
seeks to attain a type of ideal society. However, unlike communism, fascism is
elitist. Moreover, fascism is chauvinist, which is possibly its most defining attribute. Fascism works to advance the hegemony of the one-party state, a
goal that is often convergent with the apotheosis of a dictatorial leader. As authoritarian
control of the state over the polity is exercised internally, chauvinism is pursued externally, in international relations. Politically, the fascist state organizes
itself like the military. Economically, the fascist state is corporatist.
Proponents of communism and fascism, as a rule, are
satisfied with advancing intermediate, transitional forms of social
organization. communists are content, for example, to establish a totalitarian
state with centralized control over the economy even though this type of regime
necessarily creates a privileged bureaucratic class. Similarly, it is
sufficient for fascists in illiberal democracies to tighten their dictatorial
grip over the polity even as they maintain a façade of liberal democracy.
Based on the foregoing, communism and fascism share in common the will
to power realized through the advancement of totalitarianism. In this respect,
they bear a family resemblance. After all, they share the genetic heritage that
originates in Hegelianism.
Therefore, when dictatorial Duterte leans conspicuously
towards Communist China, seeking to import its repressive system into the
Philippines in order to bolster his political position, the drift is not
coincidental. It arises because the roots of fascism and communism are the same
and to a significant extent their ends are similar.
At this point in history Duterte is maneuvering for his own
sake to establish in the Philippines the totalitarian apparatus of Big Brother
next door. In advancing his totalitarian agenda, he is a traitor to our liberal democratic constitution
and to the Philippine people.
***
Both expressions, “Hegelians of the Right” and “Hegelians of the Left,” originate from Hajo Holborn, “The Science of History” in The Interpretation of History (1943), edited by Joseph R. Strayer and published by Princeton University Press.
—Tom Rockmore, “Hegel,” A Companion to the Philosophy of History and Historiography (2011),
edited by Aviezer Tucker
“The struggle of the Russians and the invading
Germans in 1943,” Holborn wrote, “was a conflict between the Right and Left
wings of Hegel’s school.”
—Avihu Zakai, The
Pen Confronts the Sword: Exiled German Scholars Challenge Nazism (2018), page
147
Hegel’s historical dialectic lies at the foundation
of Marx’s dialectical materialism, which explains why communists, who include
the Russians under Stalin, are described as “Hegelians of the Left.”
It is not so apparent why the invading German army at
Stalingrad qualifies as “Hegelians of the Right.”
Right-wing Hegelians of the nineteenth century understood
the Prussian state as the culmination of Hegelian historical dialectic:
“The Rightists (following the lead of some of the
other German Idealists) developed Hegel's philosophy along lines which they
considered to be in accordance with Christian theology, and took his philosophy
in a politically and religiously conservative direction. The Right Hegelians
felt that the series of historical dialectics had been completed, and that
Prussian society as it existed was the culmination of all social development to
date. They included Johann Philipp Gabler (1753 - 1826), Karl Friedrich Göschel
(1784 - 1861), Johann Karl Friedrich Rosenkranz (1805 - 1879) and Johann Eduard
Erdmann (1805 - 1892).”
—“Hegelianism,” The
Basics of Philosophy
Hegelians of the Right elevated the
Prussian state to the point that they conceived of it as an ideal over and
above the individuals that constituted it. They pursued conservative politics and
religion in their desire to advance, distinguish, and apotheosize the German
nation—it is this ideological direction grounded in a type of absolutist
metaphysics that defined and motivated the totalitarian Nazi regime.
Public domain photo of Joseph Stalin
ReplyDeletePhoto link:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stalin_in_July_1941.jpg
Photo of Adolph Hitler - copyright expired
Photo link:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hitler_salute_in_front_of_lamppost.jpg
Gonzalinho
Pope’s Monthly Prayer Intentions
ReplyDeleteApostleship of Prayer
April 2021
Fundamental rights
We pray for those who risk their lives while fighting for fundamental rights under dictatorships, authoritarian regimes and even in democracies in crisis.
Link: http://popesprayerusa.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/INTENZIONI-DEL-PAPA-2021-ENG-DEF.pdf
Gonzalinho
TOTALITARIANISM, A POSTMODERN PLAGUE
ReplyDeleteTotalitarianism—ubiquitous propensity of politics—discovered newfound energy in the totalitarian ideologies of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Today, a death-dealing struggle is ongoing worldwide between totalitarian and libertarian systems and everything in between, a global conflict that drastically affects individual lives, inextricably embedded in political systems.
Gonzalinho