How did bourgeois thinkers try to account for the universal change and development which they discovered?
Let us consider what some of them have had to say over a period of more than a century
Hegel said that the whole process of development taking place in history was due to the Absolute Idea realising itself in history. Herbert Spencer said that all development was a process of increasing "integration of matter", and he put this down to what he called an "Incomprehensible and Omnipresent Power". Henri Bergson said that everything was in process of evolution, due to the activity of "the Life Force"....
From Materialism and the Dialectical Method (Maurice Cornforth)
Why did the author use "have had to say," instead of "have to say"? What is the difference between them?
Were they forced to say so?
XVI Were they forced to say so? No. That "had" is merely part of the conjugation.
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XVIWere they forced to say so?
No. That "had" is merely part of the conjugation. The root expression is "have something to say", meaning to know something and want to say it. In the present perfect, it becomes "have had something to say".
XVIWere they forced to say so?
No. It's not the 'have to' of obligation.
It means that they had things in their minds that they wanted to say (and did say).
XVIWhy did the author use "have had to say," instead of "have to say"?
The phrase 'over a period of more than a century' leads to the use of the present