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2024/11/04
The aim of this essay, and I will be straightforward with the reader, is to contrast the values of Enlightnement and what is commonly referred to as "Capitalism". I am biased against the Enlightenment becasue it is my firm conviction, observing the history of its movement and evolution into Socialist nightmare, first through the Positivists and finally finding a common ground with the German Hegelians, who - in their part - were inspired by the French Revolutionaries.
I have to mention something beforehand, that I do not believe "Capitalism" to be a movement or an ideology. Capitalism is often called a system, whereas it really is not. A system is a bureaucratic attempt to regulate it. The inadequacies of "Capitalism" are most commonly the inadequacies of attempt to systematize and legislate around it. Thus, most typical Criticisms of "Capitalism" in the 21st century all lead back to the Enlightenment ideology or they ignore the fundamental nature of what is called "Capitalism", which is Darwinian.
Darwinism is a term I prefer, because it gives a natural explanation to phenomena observed in the "Capitalist" economy. That explains why Communists failed and why Enlighteners\Positivists failed as well. Today, Europe, burdened by the weight of paperwork is uninvestable, its workers cannot work, relying on the growing population of immigrants, its industry is closing factories, crushed by the weight of fuel prices caused by the "climate" policies. Western civilization is in retreat, not because its adversaries are particularly strong, but rather because the West chose weakness over strength, and unless things change in the West, it is doomed to extinction. And the root of it is the Enlightenment, its evolution and development in the modern day ideology of the West - itself anti-Western, anti-growth and anti-science. It's a coombaya cargo cult, which will not cede even in the face of a ramapging African negro or an Asiaitc savage barging into its home, looting, raping and murdering everyone and everything it can see, fueled by fumes of fentantly and alcohol in its animalistic rage.
As yours truly is an Asiatic himself, the main goal of one's work is to warn you, the reader, to put down the rosy glasses put on you by the faulty Enlightenment ideology and embrace what I call the natural outlook, aka Darwinian outlook. My ancestors were shepherds, and pastoralists prior to that, breeding sheep, goats, cattle, camels and horses. It would be unwise of me not to inform you that Capitalism is just a fancy word for Darwinian mechanics governing the world of finance, which predates Enlightenment by millennia. It is irrelevant whether you believe in Evolution or Creatonist nonsense, you will understand finance, whether you are a semi-literate street vendor in Madras or a banker in Hong Kong . Ask any shepherd how his herd is managed, how wolves hunt and how horses are bred, competing for grazing grounds with other herds, etc. and you will understand Capitalism.
This is my stance and my goal, as outlined here.
The Enlightenment ideology was formed in the "fat years", as I call them, of the French culture, largely a product of the greatest advances of the French Kingdom under the Bourbon dynasty, a consequence of the rule of France's greatest king (and I am not exaggerating) - Louis XIV. Those "fat years" were eventually followed by an economic downturn and turbulent years that culminated in the 1789 revolution that destroyed the French Kingdom and shattered the country's peaceful and prosperous life, while driving the country into a demographic and economic crisis on top of a war with neighouring countries, that was won only thanks to the selflessness of the talented French generals. The insanity that peaked with the idiosyncratic intellectual Robespierre was finally put to end by a talented artilleryman with a poor command of French - Napoleon Bonaparte.
One positive aspect of the Enlightenment thought was to open up inquiry into the Natural World. It was in the late 18th century when the first serious attempts to establish standard laws governing the universe were undertaken.
However, the key problem of the Enlightenment thought was the emphasis on Reason as the ultimate instrument of truth. This concept continued on and brought the monstrosity of post-Enlightenment ideology, such as Hegelianism and its offshoots. Even Ayn Rand, in her disdain for established ideologies and religions of her time kept emphasizing Reason, that is the mind of man, as the greatest value to man. Alas, experience shows us that this blind belief in Reason brought us where we are right now.
The problem with Reason was best demonstrated by Ivan Pavlov in his 20th century experiments showing that a mammal brain is little more than a vessel for reflexes. That brain can be train and conditioned to follow certain actions. That is, man can be trained like a dog. Should we then endown dogs with rights equal to man as well? You'd be surprised how many would answer "yes".
Indeed, the history of the American Enlightenment shows us that the key goal of Enlightenment Rationalism - the extinguishing of religion as the final authority - was ultimately failed. Just two decades ago, the left-wing "liberals" in the United States sounded alarm over America turning into a Christian "Taliban"-like regime. Three decades ago and more, U.S. Congressmen would have public hearings over "Satanic" or Anti-Christian content in the artifacts of then popular culture. The history of the antebellum United States of the 19th century shows erosion of Reason as the concept governing the minds of Americans, not its advancement.
The Second Great Awakening, the establishment and the popular following of the Mormon church, as well as the backlash against it, the abolitionist movement and its Christian (primarily Protestant) leadership, all demonstrated that American Enlightenment was gone. Whereas the values associated with it were hijacked by irrrational, mystical and supernatural thought.
Emergence of strange new cults, like aforementioned Mormonism, Christian Science, and even something as unlikely as Theosophy, all went hand in hand with an amazing and commendable progress in technology, unprecedented revolution in economics and business, on whose shoulders our modern day global economy still stands.
Alas, the Enlightenment was over, dead and buried by then.
Indeed, a very stark contrast to this situation was the 20th century Communist tyrannies, where religious, mystical and supernatural was exterminated into oblivion, but with it went away technological progress, came poverty and complacency. Military and political weakness as a result of economic ineptitude, an almost medieval, mercantilist-like structure of anti-market, anti-Darwinist policies (while paradoxically emphasizing Darwinism in an anti-religious push in schools) all indicate a strange pairing occuring:
That Darwinian success of the Western Capitalism went hand in hand with an anti-Enlightenment theme, whereas the Darwinian failure of the post-Enlightenment Hegelian or Marxist ideologies came with subordination of religion to the state or religion's extinction through force and brainwashing.