Ideology

THE ORIGIN OF THE TERM ideology can be traced back to the European Enlightenment and especially to Destutt de Tracy, who is thought to be the first to use this term in print. There were, of course, earlier forms of the notion, for instance in Francis Bacon's concept of “idola.” Further development of the term in the 18th century is closely linked to the French Encyclopedists' struggle against all forms of religious and traditional thought. Even the modern origin of the term ideology is European; nonetheless, the concept has ancient roots as well. It appears, for example, in the 15th-century Greek equivalent of the struggle between the ancients and the moderns, when representatives of the latter, champions of science and civilization, attacked the old traditions ...