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comment by blackbootz
blackbootz  ·  2858 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Rethinking ‘Hitler’s Pope’

    and history being the World Spirit figuring itself out is a theological notion even if you replace the World Spirit with humanity.

Is this an idea of Marx's? The "World Spirit figuring itself out" per se?

You're right that there's a lot to be wary of. Belief leads to all kinds of behavior, so whatever transcendental movement takes seed, we best be choosy. The demystified and disenchanted secular world we live in is probably better than an alternative one of groupthink. Cohesion, like empathy, is often thought of as a good thing but it's value-neutral, and, in fact, can be dangerous.





user-inactivated  ·  2858 days ago  ·  link  ·  

The World Spirit figuring itself out was Hegel. Marx started out as a Left Hegelian, and his famous "turning Hegel on his head" was dialectical materialism, replacing the World Spirit figuring itself out with material conditions shaping economic conditions shaping ideology, which is a smaller change than it looks like at first glance.