The philosopher shapes the Absolute while the Absolute shapes the philosopher
Evidence
Philosophers are both effects and causes: effects of their social circumstances and of the politics and institutions of their time; causes (if they are fortunate) of beliefs which mould the politics and institutions of later ages. — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 32 (
#expands, via linked claim)
But he conceives subjectivity as ‘a structure of self-relation’ identical not with finite individual persons but with the Absolute whose self-development underlies human history: modernity is the age where the Absolute attains self-consciousness through the agency of finite subjects. As Habermas puts it, ‘as absolute knowledge, reason assumes a form so overwhelming that it not only solves the problem of a self-reassurance of modernity, but solves it too well.’ The conscious human action that is the stuff of history becomes, by virtue of the ruse of reason, the means by which, independently of the intentions of the actors, the Absolute achieves its ends. — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 264 (
#qualifies, via linked claim)
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Aristotle failed to unify determinate concepts into an absolute concept — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel: Plasticity,…, 1178; Philosophers both reflect their historical milieu and shape future institutions — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 32; Hegel solved modernity’s self-justification problem too completely through Absolute reason — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist…, 264
Related
- Hegel solved modernity’s self-justification problem too completely through Absolute reason (similarity 0.81)
- Philosophers both reflect their historical milieu and shape future institutions (similarity 0.80)
- Every philosophy is a politics embedded in its historical context (similarity 0.79)
- Absolute Knowledge gains form only through a particular philosophical subjectivity (similarity 0.79)
Broader Connections
- Philosophers both reflect their historical milieu and shape future institutions
#expands(0.82) — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 32 - Hegel solved modernity’s self-justification problem too completely through Absolute reason
#qualifies(0.75) — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 264