Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel’s first point is that
Reason, or the Idea of truth, is the essence of history. He also says that the
Spirit is self-existent and does not rely on any outside sources of sustenance.
Everything exists in the world of the spirit, but also has connection to
matter, which is the opposite of the spirit. For the essence of matter is
gravity, and everything is being drawn towards the center; but in the Spirit, it
is the center of itself, and relies on no other influence, therefore it is
free. He then says that the law, morality, and the State are the fulfillment of
freedom. Hegel proceeds to deduce that because the law is the fulfillment of
freedom, only the will which obeys the law is fully free. History, Hegel says,
is progressive, and is always nearing a fuller grasp of the Idea. He ends by
saying that the Idea is eternally present, meaning that it cannot be found in
the past or the future.
Hegel appears to promote a kind of pantheism by saying
that everything exists in the Spirit. However, although he never fully
clarifies the relationship, he says that matter and the Spirit are opposites. He
considers man to be the highest entity of the Spirit, because its ultimate goal
is to satisfy itself. His glorified view of the State is ominous because of its
supreme power especially since the ultimate freedom can only come through full
submission to the law.
Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859
to extreme opposition. He claimed that life has slowly evolved over time,
progressively building up numerous beneficial mutations. Darwin considers
variability to be governed by correlated growth, compensation, use and disuse
of organs, and outside influences. Darwin still believed in a creator God that
created a few primitive species which gave rise to all life on Earth as it is
today.
Darwin has at the basis of his theory an incomplete and
unobserved view of the fossil record. He himself admits that the fossil record
is “highly imperfect.” He forms a hypothesis based on an estimation of what he
thinks the fossil record will produce. Additionally, Darwin’s view of mutations
is flawed. Over 80% of all mutations are harmful or neutral, and only a small
few are largely beneficial. Furthermore, Lamarck’s theory of Use and Disuse,
which is used by Darwin, is extremely ridiculous and false. Since the beginning
of the world, the genetic code is declining; every mutation causes the loss of
information. Evolution, if it were reality, would be degenerative, not
progressive.
Hegel and Darwin were both extremely influential in
solidifying the Romantic Movement and completely removing the concept of a God
from society. Hegel’s theory of the ultimate freedom being found under law,
which echoes the absolutism of Hobbes, is a slippery slope. He saw the
government, and all of mankind, as fully enlightened and good. He rejected the
Lutheran and Calvinistic views of depravity. Moreover, the Socratic view that the
beginning of all knowledge was the knowledge of ignorance was rejected. Man was
now the ultimate standard. Absolutes were only established by the will of the
present desire of man. The infinite truth, the basis for all civilization, was discarded.
Both Hegel and Darwin considered this
rejection necessary because the old views were formed by men who were not as
knowledgeable or enlightened as present man was. Hegel’s main contention, and
indeed Darwin’s also, is that history is progressive. While Hegel applies his
view to philosophy, and Darwin to science, the two men’s views are synthesized
in modern thought. The Marxian view of communism was borne out of the
progressive view of history, as it is always striving for communism. This view,
that is considered progressive, is only progressively despairing. Schaffer’s
observance of Western Civilization shows its decline though the ages. The idea
that man is just a result of nature, and that it is only separated from the
other beasts by its superior mind is hopeless. To rephrase Darwin, there is NO grandeur
in this view of life, only despair. Our only hope can be found in the eternal,
infinite grace of God.
No comments:
Post a Comment