The age of enlightenment

Is the age of enlightenment really that enlightening? or is it all a little pointless?

The musings of Georg Hegel lead us to believe that we are all on a path to obtain complete self-awareness. He believed that ever since we were ejected from the Garden of Eden by God we have been in a constant state of change, all of which leads us back to God. This was the basis of European philosophy during the 18th - 19th century (the age of enlightenment).

Hegel believed that existence is the synthesis of two opposites, and consequently each synthesis leads to a new existence and can be described using the triad below.

Thesis - an intellectual proposition

Antithesis - a reaction to the proposition

synthesis - a solution to the conflict by bringing the two ideas together creating a new thesis.

The ideas of Kant and Hegel are adopted by Karl Marx in the later part of the 19th century. Marx claimed that it was not God who caused dialectical change but God is a result of it. Marx's triad consisted of:

Thesis - Ruling class

antithesis - Slave/working class

synthesis - Revolution

Marx claimed that all philosophy is a waste of time, and the only source of knowledge is when humans act upon the world.

This is not the most straightforward topic but I think I have been able to understand and describe the key concepts of the lecture.