| philos. |
Hegelian dialectic (grafleonov); Hegel's dialectic (According to the 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, societies change through a form of dialectic (discourse): prevalent ideas (thesis) will not change unless they are challenged by contradictory ideas (antithesis). This will create a conflict. The contradiction is then reconciled on a higher level of truth by a third proposition (synthesis). The synthesis then will become the new thesis until it is challenged by a new antithesis and the process will perpetuate itself. While some people like to attack Hegel for this theory, he only described the mechanism through which societies can change and be controlled (the political discourse). The world is constantly changing and therefore its norms must also change accordingly. Old ideas must be challenged and where there is freedom of speech truth will eventually prevail. The alternative would be to ban new ideas and protect the old ones by force. So let us be free and let ideas collide because truth can shine forth only through the clash of opposing ideas. Unless people are indoctrinated and hence incapacitated to think on their own they want to be able to choose and browse through the marketplace of different ideas Alex_Odeychuk) |
