Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was the philosopher who discovered that society progresses through a series of dialectics, which he termed thesis (problem), antithesis (reaction to the problem), and synthesis (the alchemical solution to the problem). Marx later took this concept and made it a weaponized tool of manipulation, whereby a person or group could create engineered (fabricated, synthetic) dialectics in which they could steer a population to a predetermined location. The Fabian Society then took Marx’s weaponized dialectic and combined it with political gradualism, whereby they could slowly steer and implement a long series of dialectics over many years, and in some cases 100 years or more, without the masses ever catching on.
The cure to being gamed by revolutionary (Marxist) and gradual (Fabian Socialism) dialectics is for the individual to become adept at strong sense dialectical thinking, which is “conceding points that don’t stand up to critique, trying to integrate or incorporate strong points found in other views, and using critical insight to develop a fuller and more accurate view” (CriticalThinking.org). This form of thinking immunizes individuals against this form of manipulation, while also assisting in personal growth, and aiding in conflict resolution.
