The Operating Folklore of the Governing Class: Hegel, Bonaparte, Tolstoy and Isaiah Berlin

To understand how influential people today think about society, current events, and history, we need to understand G. W. F. Hegel's ideas, and the criticisms of them such as have been made by Tolstoy, Popper and Berlin.

Hegel began with the too-often-forgotten truth that what happens in history is often something not intended or even imagined by the people who cause it. He ended up, however, with the dangerous and ridiculous idea that these unintended consequences are heaven-sent Progress; that although most of us cannot see the future, there is a natural elite who are on the side of God and Progress, who can and should disregard all the rules and standards of present-day society, law and morality; and that anything they do is good because it is Progress.

This notion has been very popular ever since, because people who see themselves as the elite of course find it very convenient, and becasue it offers an easy way to make sense of things that happen. This paper explores the basic outlines of Hegel's teachings on this issue and what they mean today, and looks at the responses of Tolstoy, Joseph DeMaistre, and Sir Isaiah Berlin.