--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It caused my opposition to any…" description: "\"“It caused my opposition to any ideologies—Marxist, Fascist, National Socialist, what you will—because they were incompatible with science in the ratio..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5a0/eric-voegelin-27612_first-world-war_it-caused-my-opposition-to-any-ideologie_1205711.jpg" --- # It caused my opposition to any ideologies—Marxist… ![“It caused my opposition to any ideologies—Marxist, Fascist, National Socialist, what you will—because they were incompatible with science in the rational sense of critical analysis. I again refer back to Max Weber as the great thinker who brought that problem to my attention; and I still maintain…” quote by eric voegelin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5a0/eric-voegelin-27612_first-world-war_it-caused-my-opposition-to-any-ideologie_1205711.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5a0/eric-voegelin-27612_first-world-war_it-caused-my-opposition-to-any-ideologie_1205711.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5a0/eric-voegelin-27612_first-world-war_it-caused-my-opposition-to-any-ideologie_1205711.jpg) > ““It caused my opposition to any ideologies—Marxist, Fascist, National Socialist, what you will—because they were incompatible with science in the rational sense of critical analysis. I again refer back to Max Weber as the great thinker who brought that problem to my attention; and I still maintain today that nobody who is an ideologist can be a competent social scientist." It is extremely difficult to engage in a critical discussion of National Socialist ideas, as I found out when I gave my semester course on “Hitler and the Germans” in 1964 in Munich, because in National Socialist and related documents we are still further below the level on which rational argument is possible than in the case of Hegel and Marx. In order to deal with rhetoric of this type, one must first develop a philosophy of language, going into the problems of symbolization on the basis of the philosophers’ experience of humanity and of the perversion of such symbols on the vulgarian level by people who are utterly unable to read a philosopher’s work. A person on this level—which I characterize as the vulgarian and, so far as it becomes socially relevant, as the ochlocratic level—again, is not admissible to the position of a partner in discussion but can only be an object of scientific research. Because of this attitude I have been called every conceivable name by partisans of this or that ideology. I have in my files documents labeling me a Communist, a Fascist, a National Socialist, an old liberal, a new liberal, a Jew, a Catholic, a Protestant, a Platonist, a neo-Augustinian, a Thomist, and of course a Hegelian—not to forget that I was supposedly strongly influenced by Huey Long. This list I consider of some importance, because the various characterizations of course always name the pet bête noire of the respective critic and give, therefore, a very good picture of the intellectual destruction and corruption that characterize the contemporary academic world. Understandably, I have never answered such criticisms; critics of this type can become objects of inquiry, but they cannot be partners in a discussion. Anybody with an informed and reflective mind who lives in the twentieth century since the end of the First World War, as I did, finds himself hemmed in, if not oppressed, from all sides by a flood of ideological language—meaning thereby language symbols that pretend to be concepts but in fact are unanalyzed topoi or topics. Moreover, anybody who is exposed to this dominant climate of opinion has to cope with the problem that language is a social phenomenon. He cannot deal with the users of ideological language as partners in a discussion, but he has to make them the object of investigation. There is no community of language with the representatives of the dominant ideologies.”” [eric voegelin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-voegelin/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Ideological labels hinder scientific analysis; rigorous philosophy of language is needed to critique extremist ideas. **In simple terms:** Labels block objective study; use philosophy to critique. Key Takeaway Apply critical analysis beyond ideological labels. Themes intellectual rigor ideology critique philosophy of language Mood analytical critical Type philosophical academic When to use this quote - university courses - research projects - public debates Key Concepts critical theory symbolic analysis academic freedom Questions to Reflect On - How can scholars engage extremists constructively? - What tools help separate ideology from analysis? A Different Perspective Overemphasis on labeling can alienate dialogue partners. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Critical analysis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/critical-analysis/) [First world war](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/first-world-war/) [Ideologies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ideologies/) [Ideology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ideology/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Scientific research](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/scientific-research/) [World war](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world-war/) ## Related quotes > [American populist politics has a long tradition, from Andrew Jackson to Huey Long to Joseph McCarthy. But the politician Trump is most like could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joy-reid/american-populist-politics-has-a-long-tradition-from-andrew-jackson/) [Joy Reid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joy-reid/) > [“Wait till Buzz takes charge of us. A real Fascist dictatorship!" "Nonsense! 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I again refer back to Max Weber as the great thinker who brought that problem to my attention; and I still maintain today that nobody who is an ideologist can be a competent social scientist.\" It is extremely difficult to engage in a critical discussion of National Socialist ideas, as I found out when I gave my semester course on “Hitler and the Germans” in 1964 in Munich, because in National Socialist and related documents we are still further below the level on which rational argument is possible than in the case of Hegel and Marx. In order to deal with rhetoric of this type, one must first develop a philosophy of language, going into the problems of symbolization on the basis of the philosophers’ experience of humanity and of the perversion of such symbols on the vulgarian level by people who are utterly unable to read a philosopher’s work. A person on this level—which I characterize as the vulgarian and, so far as it becomes socially relevant, as the ochlocratic level—again, is not admissible to the position of a partner in discussion but can only be an object of scientific research. Because of this attitude I have been called every conceivable name by partisans of this or that ideology. I have in my files documents labeling me a Communist, a Fascist, a National Socialist, an old liberal, a new liberal, a Jew, a Catholic, a Protestant, a Platonist, a neo-Augustinian, a Thomist, and of course a Hegelian—not to forget that I was supposedly strongly influenced by Huey Long. This list I consider of some importance, because the various characterizations of course always name the pet bête noire of the respective critic and give, therefore, a very good picture of the intellectual destruction and corruption that characterize the contemporary academic world. Understandably, I have never answered such criticisms; critics of this type can become objects of inquiry, but they cannot be partners in a discussion. Anybody with an informed and reflective mind who lives in the twentieth century since the end of the First World War, as I did, finds himself hemmed in, if not oppressed, from all sides by a flood of ideological language—meaning thereby language symbols that pretend to be concepts but in fact are unanalyzed topoi or topics. Moreover, anybody who is exposed to this dominant climate of opinion has to cope with the problem that language is a social phenomenon. He cannot deal with the users of ideological language as partners in a discussion, but he has to make them the object of investigation. 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