Ideology critique has been shadowed by claims to absolute truth since its inception

Evidence

The contradictory nature of this project revealed its true Enlightenment roots. Even Comte, the direct inheritor of this line of inquiry, did not escape its contradiction. In line with his massive evolutionary schemas, Comte also conceived of a branch of “positive science” which would be devoted to the evolution of the human mind as a “social” process. But he too thought that this study would reveal that the social was subject to “invariable natural laws.” Lichtheim describes this as a “chilling thought” which, despite itself, aimed “to sustain reason’s faith in itself.” What these and other examples from this period suggest is that, from its modern inception, the concept of “ideology” has been shadowed by its “Other”—Truth, Reason, Science. — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 323

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes the founding tension in the concept of ideology—unmasking historicity while claiming universal truth.