The American Crisis: Origins-
The Failure of Modern Science and Our Historical Dilemma
Parts 3 & 4
Journal Entry #22
“You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” “What is truth?” Pilate asked. –John 18:37, 38

The Failure of Modern Science and Our Historical Dilemma

Part 3
The term ideology is broadly defined as "the body of doctrine of a social movement, institution, class or large group...with reference to some political and cultural plan, along with the devices for putting it into operation". At the core of an ideology is found a systematic explanation for the nature, structure and function of human society. From this general definition we gain perspective on Marxism and Aryan or Germanic racial supremacy as the operative ideologies associated with the Second World War-era governments and societies of Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany.

Both ideologies were profoundly products of a nineteenth century cultural and intellectual revulsion to and repudiation of the “spirit of industrial civilization”, rationalism, egalitarianism, capitalism and parliamentary democracy. And both ideologies were sustained and propelled by their faith in materialism and some form of evolutionary model.

As the militant ideologies of the class struggle and racial purity grew and flourished from the public approval so indispensable to any widely influential body of doctrine, the practitioners of these ideologies labored to bring to life their respective political and cultural plans, seeking to subordinate the surrounding social order to their visions. If rival ideologies were encountered domestically, as so often was the case, these were brushed- or shoved- aside and forced to yield their claims to legitimacy and power.

Inasmuch as these militant ideologies thereafter continued to grow in their social and political power and prestige, their respective dogmas soon sought to inspire the international policies of Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany. For what was initially considered a desirable national political and cultural plan, would eventually come to represent also a beneficial plan according to which the entire world order should conform. Predictably, a violent collision with the rival international views of the surrounding countries was certain to occur, as indeed the historical record has shown.

Because of the allegiance- even the faith- these ideologies inspired within Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany, tolerance of any opposing social or political views would be short lived, so that international tensions and disputes resulting from such friction finally became impossible to resolve by traditional diplomatic negotiation. Consequently, international diplomacy shortly gave way to a desperate grab for regional hegemony and eventual world superiority, ending quite literally in a life and death struggle between the great European powers; thus world war.

Any thought of the continued competition or interference of their ideological goals by any rival nation was considered simply intolerable in Moscow and Berlin, and so, by association, would be the continued existence of that population group who supported and advanced such interference. It is to this extent- planetary dominance and supremacy according to a particular and exclusive ideology- that the equation of total war is made complete.

Understood in this way, we can therefore see that World War Two and the Cold War are unique historical events, products of that spectacular collision between those widely divergent ideologies that we know by the familiar names of Communism and Nazism, each of which having violently competed with the other- and finally both with democratic government- for dominion over the limited geopolitical regions and peoples of earth.

Part 4
But what exactly is it about ideology that makes a people's faith in it so unshakable, and at the same time makes so resolute and violent their desire to cultivate and extend it both beyond their own borders, and beyond their own time? The answer consists in the similar function which all ideologies finally come to exercise. That is, a similar function beyond that which we have just observed: a body of dogma with reference to some political and cultural plan, along with the means of putting it into operation.

Similar is the function of ideology generally to offer a more or less complete, all-encompassing definition of reality- what actually exists, and what does not- coupled with the presumed authority to establish a world order consistent with this definition. This is a tremendously powerful function that cannot be overestimated, for it allows ideology to tell the collective human mind quite literally that what we see is not necessarily what really exists and thus, comes finally to oppose and even suppress the more rational and reasonable observations of empirical science.

It is, incidentally, precisely because of this comprehensive function and authority that ideology cannot possibly be considered just one aspect of many of the Cold War, as Messrs. Isaacs and Downing suggest in their book. When wielded, such presumption and power elevates ideology rather to the considerable status of being both a primary cause and the chief beneficiary of total war.

While we may endlessly debate whether or not the end of the Cold War was truly occasioned by the demise of Soviet Russia- notwithstanding the Peoples Republic of China endures and fundamentally opposes democracy- the historical shockwaves of ideology which generated the Second World War and the Cold War have nevertheless not yet spent themselves. These shockwaves are still very much in evidence today not only in the international arena, but within particular societies as well- even American society, as we shall see. Thus, "the central story of our times" has hardly come to an end. Indeed, it continues apace.

My purpose therefore, is to reengage our attention upon this story in order to perceive the direction history is heading- with its implications to democracy- in accordance with the ongoing press of ideological forces. Of significance to the citizenry of the United States- in the context of our political, scientific and educational institutions- are the philosophical reasons in this story which caused the destruction of, at least, Soviet Russia, Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.

The Second World War was much more than a colossal military conflict; it was every bit as much a titanic struggle between those who would henceforth decide Truth, Goodness and Beauty in Western Civilization. The former was settled on the deck of the U.S.S. Missouri on Tokyo Bay, September 2, 1945; the latter has yet to be resolved.

Certainly ideology attempts to define the world and reality, but what separates ideology from mere insightful speculation is its claim to scientific legitimacy. Ideology’s scientific pretensions are plausible and persuasive, yet fallaciously and destructively drawn. By replacing the true nature of reality with what amounts to a counterfeit version, ideology immediately comes into conflict with firmly established physical laws, and ultimately stands in violent opposition to empiricism and philosophical rationalism.

As I have said before, whatever cannot be sustained by reason, will surely be maintained by force. When empiricism and rationalism are abrogated, Truth is also nullified. Without Truth- especially the self-evident kind- democracy perishes.

Montag