The fact that the rationalist attitude considers the argument rather than the person arguing is of far-reaching importance. Like Hegel s doctrine that our short allowance are determined by national interests and traditions, Marx s doctrine tended to undermine the rationalist belief in reason. (This last consideration cannot, of course, tip the scales when we argue with ourselves.) Thus we can say that we owe our reason, like our language, to intercourse with other men. In a way, our analysis of reason may be said to resemble slightly that of Hegel and the Hegelians, who consider reason Pokies - King a social product and indeed as a kind of department of the soul or the spirit of society (for example, of the nation, or the class) and who emphasize, under the influence of Burke, our indebtedness to our social heritage, and our nearly complete dependence on it. Thus threatened both from the right and from the left, a ra ... Read more »