The Recurrence of the End Times: Voegelin, Hegel, and the Stop-History Movements (Political Theory for Today)

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 émigré 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" speculators—specifically, G.W.F Hegel, Alexandre Kojève, 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 goal—whether perfect harmony between nations, a technocratic utopia, a return to some romanticized idyllic “state of nature,” or what Kojève and Fukuyama called the “universal and homogenous State”—has vast, and perverse, implications for the trajectory of American foreign and domestic policy. Contents Introduction General Introduction to the End of History Controversy The End of History, Identity Politics, and Transcendence The Origins of a Hegelian Misunderstanding Hegel and the Crisis of Christian Salvation History Universal History Reimagined Elements of Historiogenesis Tradition-Bound Historiogenesis Gnostic Historiogenesis Historical Mankind and Historical Traditions Intentionality and the Historical Process Voegelin on Human Consciousness Kojève’s Hegel on Time and History Voegelin on the Problem of Time and the “Stop-History” Movements Hegel’s Eclipse of Reality Hegel as Psychiatric Case Study? Voegelin and R. D. Laing on the Divided Self Does Hegel Manifest Schizoid Symptoms? Shortcomings in Laing’s Theory of the Two Selves Ontological Insecurity and Von Doderer’s Analysis of Second Realities Voegelin on Hegel’s Second Reality Voegelin’s Kojèvian “Code” as an Inadequate Interpretation of Hegel’s System Kojève’s Hegel: Deliberate Falsification or Valid Exegesis? Possible Interpretations of End of History Thesis Kojève on the Present and Future How Valid Are Kojève’s Observations on the Modern World? Why Hegel’s Rational State Is Neither Universal Nor Homogeneous What Is Hegel’s Position on the End of History? Hegel on Transcendence and the “Beyond” Conclusion Appendix A Bibliography Index About the Author