Here's the thing: the history of ideas is a very exciting
field, but it is - at the same time - a history of false ideas
or terribly unattractive ones. Take 'race', as an example. It
was a breakthrough to become objective enough about ourselves
to recognize that similarities and differences between people(s)
could be talked about in an objective manner. But notions of
racial superiority, funnelled by religion or interpreted as such, did a lot
of damage. Nobody would want to endorse racialist ideology, today.
Looking back, one can see as well how communism and fascism opposed
each other in the 19th century in trying to show a way forward for societal
developement. The working class, or the European educated were meant to show
the way. In effect, neither without the other but it was a struggle for our self-image
to get there.
Today, the 'we' being talked about is struggling to become a global one. The
current situation in Ukraine is shuffling a lot of old demons. It could easily
create new ones...
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