NATURAL PHILOSOPHY IN ENGLAND 



defender of royal prerogative and absolutism, a 

 foe of the puer robustus sed malitiosus (robust 

 but malicious boy), the "common" people. On 

 the other hand, Hegel, the father of modern 

 idealism and a vigorous opponent of materialism, 

 became the founder of the most revolutionary 

 method of research, the dialectic method, and con- 

 structed the fundament of the modern ideas of 

 evolution. This conflict between theory and prac- 

 tice characterizes all scientists and philosophers, 

 with the exception of the founders of scientific 

 socialism and of their socialist disciples. It is a 

 fact, which explains itself out of the historical 

 conditions of proletarian evolution, that the scien- 

 tific socialists are the only consistent monist ma- 

 terialists of the present day. It is the " irony of 

 fate," which compels the reactionary forces to do 

 evolutionary work against their will and to assist 

 the proletarian scientists, who are conscious evo- 

 lutionists from necessity, in their historical mis- 

 sion. The most conspicuous example of this his- 

 torical contradiction between theory and practice 

 is furnished by the churches. Yet they, too, in 

 spite of their reactionary and anti-proletarian 

 practices, have been compelled to level distinc- 

 tions between classes, nations, and races, and to 

 prepare the ground for a universal evolution 



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