river like immovable rocks. Kant’s ideas get processed too, and his ‘reason’
becomes the subject of future generations’ criticism. Which is exactly what
has happened.”
“But the river you talked about. . .”
“Yes?”
“Where does it go?”
“Hegel claimed that the ‘world spirit’ is developing toward an ever-
expanding knowledge of itself. It’s the same with rivers—they become broader
and broader as they get nearer to the sea. According to Hegel, history is the
story of the ‘world spirit’ gradually coming to consciousness of itself. Although
the world has always existed, human culture and human development have
made the world spirit increasingly conscious of its intrinsic value.”
“How could he be so sure of that?”
“He claimed it as a historical reality. It was not a prediction. Anybody
who studies history will see that humanity has advanced toward ever-
increasing ‘self-knowledge’ and ‘self-development.’ According to Hegel, the
study of history shows that humanity is moving toward greater rationality and
freedom. In spite of all its capers, historical development is progressive. We
say that history is purposeful.”
“So it develops. That’s clear enough.”
“Yes. History is one long chain of reflections. Hegel also indicated
certain rules that apply for this chain of reflections. Anyone studying history in
depth will observe that a thought is usually proposed on the basis of other,
previously proposed thoughts. But as soon as one thought is proposed, it will
be contradicted by another. A tension arises between these two opposite
ways of thinking. But the tension is resolved by the proposal of a third thought
which accommodates the best of both points of view. Hegel calls this a
dialectic process.”
“Could you give an example?”
“You remember that the pre-Socratics discussed the question of
primeval substance and change?”
“More or less.”
“Then the Eleatics claimed that change was in fact impossible. They
were therefore forced to deny any change even though they could register the
changes through their senses. The Eleatics had put forward a claim, and
Hegel called a standpoint like that a thesis.”
“Yes?”
“But whenever such an extreme claim is proposed, a contradictory claim
will arise. Hegel called this a nega-tion. The negation of the Eleatic philosophy
was Heracli-tus, who said that everything flows. There is now a tension
between two diametrically opposed schools of thought. But this tension was
resolved when Empedocles pointed out that both claims were partly right and
partly wrong.”
“Yes, it all comes back to me now . . .”
“The Eleatics were right in that nothing actually changes, but they were
not right in holding that we cannot rely on our senses. Heraclitus had been
right in that we can rely on our senses, but not right in holding that everything
flows.”
“Because there was more than one substance. It was the combination
that flowed, not the substance itself.”