The Cunning of Geist 050 - Say Goodbye to the End of History: Clausewitz, Hegel, and War
The tragic events in Ukraine have brought to the surface many old quandaries of war. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 caused some to believe that a new world order had arrived. A few scholars even claimed it to be the "end of history."
Francis Fukuyama published his book "The End of History and the Last Man," in 1992, where he presents the thesis that humanity had reached "not just ... 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." (National Interest, #16). His work his based largely on Hegel's philosophy.
Fukuyama has since backed down from this claim, given the rise of identity groups fueled by the Internet. And it appears that the WWII-style invasion of Ukraine by Russia is the final nail in the coffin of this theory.
This episode explores the philosophy of war with a review of Clausewitz's work, a contempory of Hegel, as well as an analysis of how Hegel actually viewed war.