2014/03/22

"idealism will be replaced by economic calculation..." (fukuyama)



where are the brilliant ideologues out there, the people that really have the future in their hearts?









People on phones
Too distracted to save the world? Photograph: AFP/Getty Images





an interesting piece by eliane glaser on the guardian about fukuyama's goodbye to history 25 years ago...

Bring back ideology

(article in english)



"The "post-ideology" sleight of hand nevertheless continues. "The markets", which he hailed as the engine of progress, were and are talked about as "natural" – as if they were forces of gravity or Darwinian evolution. They are believed to impose "realistic" limits on policy; political prioritising hides behind practical references to the "public purse". "This is the sober reality I must set out for the country today," David Cameron said in June 2010, announcing his plan for cuts in public spending. "We are not doing this because we want to, driven by theory or ideology … We are doing this because we have to."



"While I recognize the ideological subterfuge (the markets as "natural"), there is a broader aspect to Fukuyama's essay that I admire, and cannot analyse away. It ends with a surprisingly poignant passage: "The end of history will be a very sad time. The struggle for recognition, the willingness to risk one's life for a purely abstract goal, the worldwide ideological struggle that called forth daring, courage, imagination, and idealism, will be replaced by economic calculation, the endless solving of technical problems, environmental concerns, and the satisfaction of sophisticated consumer demands."
It is hard not to conclude that this passage offers an accurate portrait of our age"


.

1 Kommentar:

  1. „Was in Europa und den USA einen neuen kollektiven Lernprozess einleiten könnte, ist die massenhafte Erfahrung, dass es die Realpolitiker in allen Machtzentren der Gesellschaft gewesen sind, die eine hochentwickelte Gesellschaftsordnung an den Rand der Katastrophe getrieben haben – nicht die Utopisten (...)“, schreibt Oskar Negt über die gegenwärtige Finanz- und Wirtschaftskrise.

    AntwortenLöschen