To Hegel, the reason of being (God) is a result, not a beginning. The worst misunderstanding one can make is to blame Hegel for his so called theology, as, if the world is a goal, the reason of being of this world would be this goal and therefore in this way a beginning, for the goal takes place first as an idea before any carrying out has taken place. Thus, as regards Hegel, rather than a progression towards an aim, history is, rather, "a regression to what took the place of a beginning" as, although the beginning possesses no reason of being (or, if one likes it better that way, no goal) ,the reason of being, when it exists at last, is the reason of being of that beginning. The beginning was meaningless. It acquires such a thing with history. One has to add that this result has no cause to it. It is neither the accomplishment of a goal nor the effect of a cause. It is the deep know how of some knowledge. So, for Hegel, it is all happening as if History was merely an attempt to give a meaning to a beginning which was deprived of it. Reproaches made concerning Hegel’s cynicism are more appropriate. Supposing Hitler had been successful in establishing his Millennium Reich, the reason of being of this world would have been swapped; at least it would be noticeably different to what it is with the triumph of Coca-Cola. But on one hand Hitler hasn’t been successful, and on the other, if, for Hegel, all reason of being is a result, a result isn’t necessarily a reason of being although Hegel wrote Weltgericht ist Weltgesischt that is: the judgement of the world is what takes place (which contradicts Wittgenstein in no way as the world is to him anything that takes place including Mrs .Levy’s white blue striped shorts in 1981,at a time when she wasn’t Mrs. Levy yet, and when Mrs. Jospin was still Mrs. Jospin) .I’m also aware of the fact that Hegel is very fond of the world Ziel, but the fact that the world possesses goals doesn’t mean that the world itself is a goal.

Marx is so eager to overthrow Hegel, his desire of putting him back on his toes is so strong that he makes his the old Theological pretence that the reason of being (God) was at the beginning, which is merely a regression as far as Hegel is concerned. He is merely replacing God by the so called, just as fallacious, Economy. The word Economy has taken the place of the word God. To Marx, the beginning is the supreme cause and everything develops from there. He is plainly placing at the beginning Economy and its laws (Thou shall earn your daily bread at the sweat of your brow.) .It is because the reason of being is at the beginning that laws of History can exist whereas for Hegel, they don’t; only a logic of negation and of conflict are at work. Hegel is consistent .If the world is a knowledge, logic therefore takes place in the world, unlike formal logic which only occurs in thought. For Hegel, the law of History itself is the negation of all laws.

Therefore Marx gets to the paradox I have always found so ridiculous (and when I say always, this means as early as my twenties, when all my classmates were nice clean cut Marxists) : the laws of history which evolve from the fact that the reason of being resides in the beginning make it so that the game is over, that Capitalism is beautifully condemned. However, the working classes have to be educated and guided. Why bother, as Capitalism is beautifully condemned by the laws of history. Suckers on roller skates and puffs (often one and the same) are sure to give birth to the new Athens. Or rather, the world will do so instead. This is only a matter of time .Such arguments were put forward to me by that idiot Debord in 1970. Angry dikes and puffs were going to become radicals and the shit was going to hit the fan. The fact is, what I had particularly appreciated with the I.S. was their condemnation of all fragmented revolts .

In the same manner, I have always found ridiculous the fact that Situationists cheered joyfully to the so called collapse of Capitalism. The Roman Empire collapsed, and so what? Neither Rome nor Athens, as well as bourgeois revolutions originated from some collapse; they proceeded from some deep groundwork in the depths of this world the way Hegel wanted it to be. When one can at last see what was cooking up in a trivial atmosphere, everything has already been done : a sunrise drawing the picture of the world in a flash. Nothing good has roots in some collapse.

In this world, the Spirit is condemned to sweat from the wounds of those suffering from stigmata, oozing from moistures in the section of a wall, streaming with sweat as a secret does. This is why the music of Wagner transpires.

Totality is the only thing which is real. Nevertheless, it is never to be seen. Therefore what one can see isn’t real, it is a show. The show has been around since the dawn of ages. The thing is knowledge, the thing is the world .It doesn’t appear for reasons different from those Kant has given for this. The myth is a transfiguration of the beginning.

The world is a knowledge, inhabited by ignorants.

Jean-Pierre Voyer

M. Ripley s'amuse