#running river

12.01.2022

Hegel believed that the basis of human cognition changed from one generation to the next. There were, therefore, no ‘eternal truths’, no timeless reason. The only fixed point philosophy can hold onto is history itself.

To Hegel, history was like a running river. Every tiny movement in the water at a given spot in the river is determined by the falls and eddies in the water higher upstream. But these movements are determined, too, by the rocks and bends in the river at the point where you are observing it. And the history of thought - or of reason - is like this river. The thoughts that are washed along with the current of past tradition, as well as the material conditions prevailing at the time, help to determine how you think. You can therefore never claim that any particular thought is correct forever and ever. But the thought can be correct from where you stand.

[Accordingly], some things can be right or wrong in relation to a certain historical context. If you advocated slavery today, you would be at best be thought foolish. But you wouldn’t have been considered foolish 2,500 years ago, even though there were already progressive voices in favour of slavery’s abolition. But we can take a more local example. Not more than 100 years ago it was not considered unreasonable to burn off large areas of forest in order to cultivate the land. But it is extremely unreasonable today. We have a completely different - and better - basis for such judgments.