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Wikipedia
entry on Francis Fukuyama
The End of History and the Last Man is a 1992 book by Francis Fukuyama, expanding on his 1989 essay "The End of History?", published in the international affairs journal The National Interest. In the book, Fukuyama argues that the advent of Western liberal democracy may signal the end point of humanity's sociocultural evolution and the final form of human government.
"What we may be witnessing is not just the end of the Cold War, or the passing of a particular period of post-war history, but the end of history as such: that is, the end point of mankind's ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government."
This story is the same one as the one I told about my friend who read Revelations 30 years ago, and told me how the end of the world was imminent in 1980, only his wife had a serious stroke, underwent extensive re-hab while he struggled with 3 kids, and after 3 years and much improvement, she divorced him and married a friend.
It was "end-of-world", only he got the detailed images a bit wrong.
So did the Neo-Cons. So did we all.
We are viewing the End of History over the next 10 years. With Francis Fukuyama, I celebrate the End of History!
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PS.
Actually I agree with Mr. Fukuyama in many areas. The article continues:
Fukuyama's thesis consists of three main elements.[3]I agree Democracy hinders risky behavior, and take this as more proof that we no longer live in a Democracy. I also agree anent lofty spirits and the unsatisfying nature of master-slave relationships, again which beliefs put us at odds with the modern day reality.
The empirical argument: Since the beginning of the 19th Century, there has been a move for States to adopt some form of liberal democracy as its government.
The philosophical argument: Fukuyama examines the influence of thymos (or human spiritedness). His argument is democracy hinders risky behavior. Enlightened rational thought shows that the roles of master and slave are unsatisfying and self-defeating and hence not adopted by lofty spirits. This type of argument was originally taken up by Hegel and John Locke.
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2 comments:
Was thinking about Fukuyama the other day myself. Being partial to cyclic historians, as I take it you are too, I see some truth in that in this way: the end of history has been reached by this civilization. The times of "empire," which I think we haven't actually reached yet, are a dreary round of same-old-same old -- until the salt that hath lost its savour is once more renewed...
Yes. The salt that has lost its savour...shades of Arnold Toynbee. I was not merely partial to "A Study of History"; I was entranced by it, as well as by the march of mankind.
At the time, I thought things like the Vietnam War were anomalies, from which we would learn and draw guidance, never to repeat such mistakes...
It is also a time to check out those "old wineskins", for the time of "new wine" is coming.
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