The Recurrence of the End Times: Voegelin, Hegel, and the Stop-History Movements

(Hardback)

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The Recurrence of the End Times: Voegelin, Hegel, and the Stop-History Movements explores the deep connection between modern political ideologies and the secular eschatological hopes and dreams of a post-Christian society. Focusing primarily upon the thought of 20th century German migr political scientist Eric Voegelin, the book argues that we cannot understand the globalized world in which we live unless we appreciate the lasting influence of the various "End of History" speculatorsspecifically, G.W.F Hegel, Alexandre Kojve, and Francis Fukuyama. Through a Voegelinian lens, he dissects the relationship between these three thinkers, also claiming that while Voegelin may have misunderstood Hegel, his critiques of the Hegelian approach to history offer fresh and important perspectives on the contemporary world. This makes a forceful argument that the idea of history as a teleological path, leading toward some goalwhether perfect harmony between nations, a technocratic utopia, a return to some romanticized idyllic state of nature, or what Kojve and Fukuyama called the universal and homogenous Statehas vast, and perverse, implications for the trajectory of American foreign and domestic policy.

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Beginning with the assumption that we today are still fundamentally inhabitants of Hegels world-- the modern world-- Michael Colebrook has provided an always insightful and often provocative analysis of the relationship among Hegel, Alexandre Kojve, and Eric Voegelin. The latter two are themselves first-class thinkers whose commentaries on Hegel have generated considerable controversy. Colebrooks focus is on the symbol End of History, made famous in Kojves lectures in the 1930s in Paris and a staple of French political thinking ever since. Coming to terms with Colebrooks judicious interpretation will be a significant future task for scholars of any, or all, of these three thinkers.

Author Bio

Michael J. Colebrook is Headmaster at Tulsa Classical Academy.