People writing about ideas, usually nerds or the pedantic, often become stuck because they think that there has to be a final termination point or causal historical point for an idea (e.g. Bismarck REALLY invented fascism, not Mussolini).
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These people are never flexible in their thought, and they are attempting the impossible. You cannot pin an idea or historical event down to a single causal factor or event, and it’s pointless to try to do so.
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This is a fact memorisation approach to history and ideas. “In 1066, the Normans invaded England”. There’s little that’s fruitful here, apart from pub quizzes. Ideas emerge, re-emerge, combine and interact. You can see “fascism” or “communism” originating in Plato, if you wish.
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This is because there is a human nature, and there’s probably a limit on the repertoire of ideas for running human societies. The same ideas and programs, with different iterations, reoccur throughout time. Further, these ideas are rarely “pure” and contain shared elements.
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We segment political ideas “liberalism”, “communism” etc for ease of analysis, but this doesn’t mean there’s some pure “liberalism” or “communism” floating through history. People fall in love with the label and try to bend reality to the label. This is nerdism.
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