"So what is real freedom to [the German philosopher] Hegel?
“'It must further be understood [claims Hegel] that all the worth which the human being possesses—all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State.'
"In the broader context of Hegel’s philosophy, human history is governed by the necessary working out of the Absolute. The Absolute—or God, or Universal Reason, or the Divine Idea—is the actual substance of the universe, and its developmental processes are everything that is. 'God governs the world; the actual working of his government—the carrying out of his plan—is the History of the World.'
"The State, to the extent that it participates in the Absolute, is God’s instrument for achieving his purposes. 'The State,' accordingly, 'is the Divine Idea as it exists on Earth... One must worship the state as a terrestrial divinity.'
"In such worship, Hegel believed, we find our real freedom....
"And again, just in case we have missed Hegel’s point: 'A single person, I need hardly say, is something subordinate, and as such he must dedicate himself to the ethical whole.' And again echoing Rousseau: 'Hence, if the state claims life, the individual must surrender it'.”~ Stephen Hicks expounding Hegel's disastrous (and influential!) statism, in his post 'Hegel on Worshipping the State' [excerpted from Hicks's 2004 book Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault]
Friday, 24 February 2023
The Philosophical State-Worshipper: "...if the state claims life, the individual must surrender it."
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2 comments:
"Stephen Hicks expounding Hegel's disastrous (and influential!) statism"
Do you really think a bunch of people sat around reading tripe like Hegel and Foucault and suddenly thought "yeah - that's our idea!". I'm not sure impenetrable bollocks has had a huge effect 20th century affairs. Philosophers had be advocating for statism before that (Leviathan for instance).
No, it wasn't sudden.
But yes, they did. You know Marx, for one was Hegelian, right? You know British and American parents sent their 19C/early 20C youngsters to study in Germany to imbibe the philosophy, right? And those youngsters came home to fill the academies and the teachers colleges and other likeminded places, right?
Sure, statism has been around forever. But philosophers between Hobbes + Hegel had been beginning to explaining how rights and individualism work.
And then wankers like Kant + Hegel came along to damp down that fire, and give statism the renewed impetus it still has.
Never discount the power of apparently impenetrable bollocks.
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