Feast for the Hegelians
The book raised some eyebrows but was selling briskly days after it hit the bookstands. The author, Francis Fukuyama, was seen in many popular talk shows in the US discussing his work. I still recall I was on a train to Strasbourg coming from the Alps in the spring of '93 when I first got hold of the book. The world then was mighty different.
Almost three decades later, I can understand why Fukuyama could be in a state of denial or perhaps to the point of rewriting or even repudiating many of what he had written as events in the worlds unfold, as we see now the re-emergence of Populism in the US, the Philippines, Turkey, Brazil, Chile, etc.-- countries that championed the cause of liberal democracy before.
Thirty years? How long should it be for one to remember or to forget? Marcel Proust speaks about images of inanimate objects, lifeless but forever imbued as moving pictures in our memories. Like books and the words that we read, continually reminding us we will never forget.
Indeed a feast for the "Hegelians."
Makati City. 2 November 2019
Almost three decades later, I can understand why Fukuyama could be in a state of denial or perhaps to the point of rewriting or even repudiating many of what he had written as events in the worlds unfold, as we see now the re-emergence of Populism in the US, the Philippines, Turkey, Brazil, Chile, etc.-- countries that championed the cause of liberal democracy before.
Thirty years? How long should it be for one to remember or to forget? Marcel Proust speaks about images of inanimate objects, lifeless but forever imbued as moving pictures in our memories. Like books and the words that we read, continually reminding us we will never forget.
Indeed a feast for the "Hegelians."
Makati City. 2 November 2019
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