An analysis of Francis Fukuyama's The end of history and the last man
In: The Macat Library
Abstract
"Francis Fukuyama';s controversial 1992 book The End of History and the Last Man demonstrates an important aspect of creative thinking: the ability to generate hypotheses and create novel explanations for evidence. In the case of Fukuyama';s work, the central hypothesis and explanation he put forward were not, in fact, new, but they were novel in the academic and historical context of the time. Fukuyama';s central argument was that the end of the Cold War was a symptom of, and a vital waypoint in, a teleological progression of history. Interpreting history as "teleological" is to say that it is headed towards a final state, or end point: a state in which matters will reach an equilibrium in which things are as good as they can get. For Fukuyama, this would mean the end of "mankind';s ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government". This grand theory, which sought to explain the end of the Cold War through a single overarching hypothesis, made the novel step of resurrecting the German philosopher G.W.F. Hegel';s theory of history--which had long been ignored by practical historians and political philosophers--and applying it to current events."--Provided by publisher.
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