authors:
- Fukuyama, Francis
content: 'It is very interesting to read this 35 years after its first version (as
  an article) was published. Its main prediction - that liberalism is the logical
  end-point of history, which has been, and will be, reached by more and more nations
  - has failed, given the election 2024 of the illiberal Donald Trump as president
  in the USA, and the other numerous anti-liberal developments globally during the
  last few years.


  The book has many valid and interesting points. However, given its failure, the
  framework underpinning it, namely Hegel''s theory of historical progress as interpreted
  by Alexandre Kojéve, and the use of "thymos", or recognition of person-hood, looks
  decidedly dated. More seriously, the fundamental idea in this book of a Universal
  History is confused. Sometimes Universal History is discussed as if it is an objective
  process occurring in the world, while at other times it is seen as a way of interpreting
  what is going on. These are fundamentally different concepts, but Fukuyama swerves
  between the two as he sees fit.


  There is a comment somewhere to the effect that Hegel was constrained by the views
  of his time, and the same can be said of this book. Having read Fukuyama''s recent
  book "Liberalism and its discontents", I am now struck by how the author in that
  book has completely abandoned the argumentative framework from the first book. I
  wonder if he has anywhere commented on why he did that...


  This book is clearly written, and an interesting testament from an epoch that is
  now gone.'
date: '2024-11-12'
edition:
  published: '2012'
  publisher: Penguin
goodreads: '16644107'
html: '<p>It is very interesting to read this 35 years after its first version (as
  an article) was published. Its main prediction - that liberalism is the logical
  end-point of history, which has been, and will be, reached by more and more nations
  - has failed, given the election 2024 of the illiberal Donald Trump as president
  in the USA, and the other numerous anti-liberal developments globally during the
  last few years.</p>

  <p>The book has many valid and interesting points. However, given its failure, the
  framework underpinning it, namely Hegel''s theory of historical progress as interpreted
  by Alexandre Kojéve, and the use of &quot;thymos&quot;, or recognition of person-hood,
  looks decidedly dated. More seriously, the fundamental idea in this book of a Universal
  History is confused. Sometimes Universal History is discussed as if it is an objective
  process occurring in the world, while at other times it is seen as a way of interpreting
  what is going on. These are fundamentally different concepts, but Fukuyama swerves
  between the two as he sees fit.</p>

  <p>There is a comment somewhere to the effect that Hegel was constrained by the
  views of his time, and the same can be said of this book. Having read Fukuyama''s
  recent book &quot;Liberalism and its discontents&quot;, I am now struck by how the
  author in that book has completely abandoned the argumentative framework from the
  first book. I wonder if he has anywhere commented on why he did that...</p>

  <p>This book is clearly written, and an interesting testament from an epoch that
  is now gone.</p>

  '
isbn: '9780241960240'
language: en
lastmod: '2024-11-12'
path: /library/fukuyama-1992.html
published: '1992'
rating: 2
reference: Fukuyama 1992
subjects:
- history
- liberalism
- politics
title: The End of History and the Last Man
type: book