Because it is too important to be left to generals war is important enough to be studied by philosophy. The use of themselves as a force has no history and animals fight and have a history but do not wage war and make history. War takes life and creates a way of life. Don Quixote wishes to see in hell the inventor of “the dreadful fury of those devilish instruments of artillery … which is the cause that very often a (...) cowardly base hand takes away the life of the bravest gentleman.” Gunpowder, according to Hegel, is the work of thought and, like the printing press, promotes thought. Humanity required gunpowder and it was invented. The principle of chivalry, honor, is a particularity of feeling, the exact opposite of the universal of thought, and men cannot realize their common humanity where weapons are “arms,” physical forces. (shrink)

As Aristotle before him, Quine has earned a just renown for his exposure of untenable dualisms: he is best-known, of course, for his rejection of the ‘dogma’ of the radical distinction between analytic and synthetic truths. But another dualism which Quine has no use for has scarcely caused a murmuring in the assembly of philosophers, where Quine’s opposition to the analytic-synthetic dichotomy placed him on the far left, because on this matter he has aligned himself with the philosophical right, with (...) what has been the establishment since Hume. (shrink)

In 1837 an eighteen-year old maker of verse epigrams wrote of Hegel.