Ideologies claim total explanation of past, present, and future.

Evidence

Ideologies are always oriented toward history, even when, as in the case of racism, they seemingly proceed from the premise of nature; here, nature serves merely to explain historical matters and reduce them to matters of nature. The claim to total explanation promises to explain all historical happenings, the total explanation of the past, the total knowledge of the present, and the reliable prediction of the future. — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 1067

Categorization

• DEFINE: Core definition of ideology’s ‘claim to total explanation’ — a toolkit concept the reader needs.