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Abstract
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A passage in one of Heine's essays draws from certain elements in German philosophy conclusions regarding the form of the liberal revolution. Reading this passage now, it appears to predict successfully the political events in Germany leading up to the present war. What actually happens is that people establish the predictive relationship between Heine's statements and present events on the basis of structural similarities, consequently taking the statement for a successful prediction. What will happen according to Heine, can be discarded as prediction. The intuitive understanding of certain national trends on the basis of personal experience enabled Heine to predict the potentialities of the German mind and the consequences concurrent thereto. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)
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