4.1 Revolutions Per Second
Last modified 05/17/2008
|
We can move relatively swiftly toward the conclusion of our brief overview of
the gestation of the philosophy of history and that suggested by the discovery
of the eonic effect by considering the developments in the wake of Kant. But
first it is important to consider the issue of economic theory on the way toward
a foundation for study of the immense ideological combat to come in the wake of
the modern transition. It is no accident that the economic revolution of
capitalism accompanies the modern transition, and produces a stunning take-off
effect just at the Great Divide. This mystery is a spectacular concordance of
cultural facts, but it has produced confusion on its own terms. Looking at the
eonic effect we can see that the obsession with economic explanation is
misplaced: the dynamics of large-scale history transcend the economic. We
summarize this very simply by looking at the two poles of economic freedom: the
freedom of agents agents producing 'free markets' and the freedom of such agents
to produce economic systems that satisfy a set of prescribed rules and behaviors
(e.g. capitalist or socialist, etc...). We tune Adam Smith and Karl Marx to one
definition by that definition. The point is that men are free to create economic
systems of their own devising, this fact therefore contradicting the
implications of economic determinism. In fact, we see that the eonic effect
resolves the perplexities that confounding Marxists with their confusions over
historical inevitability.
The point for us is that our Kantian rubric resolved into eonic periodization reminds us that ethical action and economic action must find a resolution in action. The de-ethicization of history through economic determination has proved a false form of reasoning. The immense simplicity of Kant's framework applies as well to the question of a leftist gesture in a liberal context, and this requires the deliberation on the 'categorical imperatives' that give foundation to the trend toward equalization that both fulfils and challenges capitalist realizations. The evidence is starkly clear in nineteenth century cultural politics for the parallel emergence and collision of these twin perspectives and their two revolutions. |
||
|
|
||
|
|
||