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NotPhil  ·  3783 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: In Praise of Failure

    If Hegel is to be given any credit, we are going to be trapped in the current descriptive desert until someone -- why not you? -- advances some new ideas contra the capitalist's dream.

Because, if Hegel was correct, the contradictions in the current mindset (the thesis) must be recognized by society as a whole (the spirit of the age) before a mindset which negates these contradictions (the antithesis) can be recognized and advanced.

Since few people believe there's anything inherently wrong with our current institutions (there's nothing wrong with capitalism!, there's nothing wrong with representative democracy!), and believe, instead, that a few bad actors are messing things up (it's the greedy bankers!, no, it's the lazy workers!, no, it's the crazy liberals!, no, it's the dumb conservatives!) any new ideas will be dismissed as nonsense by society as a whole.

Only when the descriptions of what's wrong are recognized as valid (hmm, maybe capitalism is wasteful, dehumanizing, and unfair!, hmm, maybe representative democracy is too easily corrupted by sophistry and special interests!) will new ideas be considered.