Civilization: The Age of Masked Gods and Disguised Kings – Volume I
The most critical damage resulting from positivism (capitalist modernity’s official ideology) lies in the area of the social sciences. In the name of being scientific, the reductionist objectification of social phenomena has created problems that will not be easily overcome. Scientific socialism’s employment of this method in the study of the social and economic areas has complicated the problems associated with establishing a meaningful scientific method to such a degree that it will be very difficult to resolve. The mental attitude resulting from this physical approach has given capitalism the strength that no weaponry could. Opening up the proletariat and the poor to the study of society through its objectification and inducing within them a mindset that accepts such an approach has disarmed them from the outset. But the scientific socialists are not even aware of this. We will try to show that to conceptualize society as a phenomenon like the biological or even physical nature is to already surrender to capitalist modernity.
It is with pain and anger that I have to admit that the noble struggle that has raged for the past one hundred and fifty years was carried out on the basis of a vulgar, materialist positivism doomed to failure. The class struggle underlies this approach. However, the class—contrary to what they believe—is not the workers and laborers resisting enslavement, but the petit bourgeoisie who long ago surrendered and became part of modernity. Positivism is the ideology that has formed this class’s perception and underlies its meaningless reaction against capitalism. This class of urban tradesmen is totally ignorant of the way society is really formed and has always been the basis of forming unproductive factions. Ideologically, they constitute a social stratum easily defended by the dominant official order.
The social approach of positivism can be seen as contemporary idolatry. In fact, idolatry is worshipping a divinity which has lost its meaning. In the past, the concept of divinity served enchanting and sacred functions for society and the loss of these functions constitutes idolatry. It is understandable that those lacking insight in this matter worship idols. They do not realize that the need for idols lies in the functionality of the idols. On the contrary, they believe that idolatry will produce meaning and hence equal the sacredness and supremacy of believe in divinity. It might be quite enlightening to analyze the anti-idol religions. I have no doubt that those positivists who restrict themselves to positive facts and phenomena are nothing but contemporary idolaters.
Marx and his school attempted to evaluate society, history, the arts, law and even religion by means of economic analysis. But let us not forget that social institutions are also constructs of the human mind. The human mind continuously produces meaning and willpower in a social environment. The mind administers society. Hence, societal economy is also a product of the mind.
I must reiterate that, to make a meaningful contribution, it is of the utmost importance that we look at sociology from a historical perspective and history from a sociological perspective. One of the advantages of this method is that it comes close to a realistic interpretation of history—history as it happened. I do not deny the importance of speculative thought but for speculative thought to be beneficial, we have to understand how history has truly evolved. This cannot be done by proclaiming “history is determined by infrastructure” or “history consists of the state’s actions.” Such an approach cannot explain what happened in history and thus in society. This amounts to social physiology and not understanding history. Explaining how social institutions (the “tissues” in physiology) have effected or determined one another cannot be considered a narrative of history. It is indeed a very vulgar positivism.
The key to obtaining a meaningful interpretation of history is to determine how the power of its flow is achieved at the instant of that flow. What is important is to understand the nature of the mental attitude and willpower effective at that specific instant in history—whether it is economically or religiously driven. Metaphorically speaking, what is important is not the kind of weapon that was used but the moment the weapon was triggered by the hand. This is the true interpretation of history. As those who have had strategic responsibilities in history well know, history is a weapon always at the ready.
This introduction, before I embark on the history of civilization, is an attempt to ensure that the question of method is not disregarded—it is an attempt at making some contribution to epistemology, the science of knowledge. The value of an interpretation does not only lie in its power to explain history. For those who can influence history, the value lies in how it can be utilized. For the victims of history—the oppressed and exploited—the real value would be realizing that they can attain the power to obtain their freedom, the recapturing of their willpower. If an interpretation of history eternally condemns the victims to the victors or if it forestalls liberation with the dictum “in no time liberation will be achieved” then, despite the fact that they claim to represent the victims, the analysts are, at the least, gravely mistaken.