Developing
theories in the social science in parallel to those of science
emerged early in the human social history of ideas. Ancient man
having ate of the tree of knowledge inquired into the nature of
everything and asked how it worked, and why? Historians also
developed that characteristic. famous Historians like Toynbee,
Spencer and others developed theories that explained cycles in human
history-such idea even made it into science fiction with Isaac
Asimov's Seldon Plan in 'The Foundation' trilogy. The age of
developing macro-historical causal theories may be over now.
This
is an era where micro-history and macro-introspection has supplanted
viewing the world over-all with detachment for the purpose of
analysis, except perhaps as cold scientific objectivity regards
society with a sociopath's eye. In what has been called the age of
fracture modern technology and the smallness of the globe have made
historical theories of mass human behavior with recurrent cycles seem
quaint; obsolete. In live real time, reality TV drones with optics
and dark pool computer generated quantitative trading cyclical
history seems absurd-as do any long cycles in nature such as those
scrubbing CO2 from the atmosphere.
The
demise of historical theory ended a grand trend that could be said,
rather inaccurately, to have started with the philosopher G.W.F.
Hegel's epic 'Phenomenology of Mind'. Hegel brought secular history
into a theistic evolution. Inspired by the paradigmatic structure of
the Bible where God's teleology has a purpose for human existence
extending through history, Hegel's viewpoint might be construed as
being a sort of first cousin of post-millennialism wherein God's plan
to grow a majoritarian Christian society through time following the
tribulation of the first century and crucifixion of the Lord Jesus
established on the foundation of the Lord's securing of the kingdom
of God for mankind of faith to enter. In Hegel's post-millennialism
God is realizing himself in history and the German state of his day
was the highest realization yet attained by mankind.
Hegel
did not preclude other societies of the day from being of equal
standing in regard to comparative theistic realization; it was simply
that Hegel had himself become aware of the post-millennial advance
and teleology of God, so he therefore appropriately viewed that state
of knowledge as of the first spiritual rank among mortals.
Philosophers and historians have almost never viewed Hegel's
philosophy as being post-millennialism, yet to me now it seems to be
purely so, rather than theistic evolution detached from a scriptural
context. After all, Hegel was writing in post-Lutheran Germany.
Hegel's
Phenomenology infused with post-millennialism was learned by Karl
Marx and converted into pure secular material evolution devoid of
spirit. Following the end of the cold war American Presidential
administrations led away from spirituality toward materialism with
rash military engagements, reallocation of world political order so
far as they could to benefit Wall Street investors, and whole-hearted
support from Hollywood for an immoral new world order beyond good and
evil as a synthetic version of corporatist atheism borrowing much of
the Marxist premises of social equality in spiritless
meaninglessness. If Karl Marx could be transmogrified into a
Libertarian corporatist he would fit well in modern American society
as a broadcast journalist.
If
modern America was too willing to throw out macro-historical analysis
and dispose of objective reason in line with Dewian principles of the
relativity of truth theory so far as to negate it, along with reality
as a subjective experience solely without an objective for-itself
status, it was ready to accept science and elite opinion and
paradigms in there stead.
In
the 18th century scientific and historical theory were not so far
apart as they latter developed. It was reasonable to create
hypothesis about mass social behavior as it was about gravity. In a
contemporary litigious era where expert and fine, mathematically
precise opinion can be proven or defended but historical generality
cannot, there is a natural de-emphasis upon general social and
historical theory, however that does not preclude the possibility of
the formation of accurate historical or social generalities.
While
Aristotle might be regarded as the first extra-scriptural writer of
historical cycle theory in his treatise Politics,
in
an era where democracy still breaks down through lack of mass
democratic participation with intelligence and determination to
maintain democracy in health, it is a reciprocal fact that too few
discern the applicability of the doctrine to the present time.
