Theory and Ideology

Theory cannot be constrained by ideology. In fact, Ideologies are largely constructed to limit and constrain theory based on the whims of the thinker. Ideology is failed theory. I suppose the critical question is what is it that turns a theory into ideology? In the end we will find the source in a move in the name of some ideal or absolute.

I claim this is the original sin of idealism. Plato's insistence that the forms are more real than the phenominal reality in front of is the origin of the fatal flaw of modernism, Decartes' dualism of mind and body. There are many ways out of this dilemma, and most of these will run aground on one or more idealogies. The history of thought is a history of demolished ideologies, and our age is no different. Neither communism nor capitalism have any real solution not because they don't have successful theories but that they are both fundamentally ideological at base. We need post-idealogical theory, which is what I guess the intent of the post-modern movements. But if your post-modern thinking doesn't transcend the clash of moder ideologies to arrive at something truely beyond what has gone before