ISLAMABAD, Dec 17: A lecture on Hegel’s philosophy of history by Ashfaque Salim Mirza the other day sparked a lively debate on myths and religious texts as sources of history and if reason or dialectical materialism played any role in understanding history or shaping events and whether leaders of mankind would ever learn from their past.

The lecture was organised jointly by the Islamabad Cultural Forum and the Islamabad Philosophical Society at the Trust for Voluntary Organisations (TVO) auditorium where the Forum holds its fortnightly discussion on social topics every other Friday.

Mr Mirza, a staunch leftist who enjoys picking issues with dyed-in-the-wool comrades, argued that myths and ancient religious texts also constituted historical material as could be seen in the case of Hindu scriptures that pointed to geographical locations with reference to faith events of obscure validity.

He explained that Hegel had overcome the limitations of both common sense and of traditional philosophy in grasping the nature of problems that arose in philosophical analyses and in establishing the relationship between thought and reality. Hegel emphasized reason because it alone could put man and history on a rational course.

Prof Khwaja Masud, who wouldn’t take kindly to any deviation from the known Marxist position, reasserted the classical stance that historical processes could only be understood with the tools of dialectic materialism that determined the spirit of the age and scientifically explained why things were happening as they were around the world.

He said the movement of world events clearly depicted the course civilisations took and how empires once seemingly imperishable passed into history. The present time was no different. The march of events was unstoppable. The fate of the sole super power could be no exception.

He suggested the sweep of history at this time seemed to favour the weak and fallen of the world as one saw in Latin America where American hegemony was being openly challenged.