Many have often referenced, refuted, or even confirmed Hegel’s idea of “the cunning of reason,” let’s quote it in perhaps its most understandable formulation: “In world history, the actions of men produce something beyond what they aim at and achieve, beyond what they directly know and desire. They fulfill their own interests; but something further is thereby brought about, which is latent in their actions but not in their consciousness or intent.” It’s more or less a cliché now that finite human reason cannot account for all possible consequences. We can rejoice in the achievements of human reason – we can manufacture all sorts of things from petroleum – but this comes at a price, and we have to pay this price.
Hegel might be right about this. What we find harder to believe, especially after the horrors of the 20th century, is that the events of the world are organized by some kind of world spirit for a sensible purpose – to be revealed later.
A person with a Christian upbringing has a somewhat simpler task in that they can understand world history as salvation history. As a created being, one doesn’t need to seek humanly comprehensible meaning in everything; every difficulty is God’s will and test. The Christian knows that our world is not the best of all possible worlds, we are not perfect, which, however, opens up the possibility to always and continuously become better. If we make the right decisions. Because, says Schelling -Hegel’s contemporary, comrade, then sworn enemy – the essence of human freedom is that we are capable of good and evil.
Schelling didn’t have much faith that man could avoid evil, especially not by starting to behave as an *alter deus*, or another god, in his great pride.
History rather confirms Schelling, yet we keep returning to the religion of reason. For example, we seek meaning in war. As if deciphering the intent and purpose of the attacking party would help us resolve all the consequences imposed upon us. We can morally judge their decisions (and we must do so), but this doesn’t make the world of consequences either more ethical or more rational.
But if this is so, what can we do?
First, let’s accept that it’s unnecessary to carve out a new ethic. We have lived through times of war, and it seems we will live through more. The Ten Commandments are enough as a moral compass; we’ve been able to verify their correctness for a good two thousand years.
We don’t need moral guidance, but the right decisions.
The right decisions require insight. We must plan for the future knowing that there will always be consequences that we didn’t intend or have in our consciousness. Our survival strategy, therefore, must be dynamic, but we can derive its dynamics from human freedom, that is, from the knowledge that we are not other gods, but we are capable of good and evil.
However, to be able to distinguish between good and evil, we first need to arrive at faith in faith in God. If God exists, then world history is essentially salvation history, and as such, it can be lived. If there is no God, then the solution is simply that a butterfly somewhere sometime fluttered its wings. And it doesn’t matter whether it was *Apatura metis* (Hungarian Glider) or *Melithaea athalia* (Heath Fritillary) that decided your future. We can’t want, because we can’t live like this.
As opposed to the cause-and-effect relationship of the butterfly effect, which lacks a higher purpose, we Christians have one certainty: Christ was born.
Notes:
Philosophical references:
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel: German philosopher known for his concept of “the cunning of reason” in history.
Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling: Another German philosopher, contemporary of Hegel, known for his work on human freedom.
Theological concepts:
Salvation history: A Christian interpretation of history focusing on God’s interventions and plan for human salvation.
“Alter deus”: Latin for “another god”, used here to criticize human hubris.
Religious references:
Ten Commandments: The ethical and moral imperatives in Judaism and Christianity.
“Christ was born”: Referring to a central event of Christianity, tied to the Christmas greeting at the end.
Scientific concepts:
Butterfly effect: A concept in chaos theory where small changes can lead to large consequences.
Biological references:
*Apatura metis* (Hungarian Glider) and *Melithaea athalia* (Heath Fritillary): Specific butterfly species, used here metaphorically.
Homeland Dictionary 