MODERN WESTERN CIVILIZATION’S VIEW OF THE MOVEMENT AND END OF HISTORY

 

Signs of the Last Day and the End of History

Insights from Sheikh Imran Hosein

Perhaps the foremost philosopher of history of modern western civilization is the German philosopher, Fredrich Hegel. He gave a view of the historical process that begins with a thesis. It provokes an antithesis. And these two are then reconciled through the emergence of a synthesis. The synthesis in his philosophy of history represents a higher stage of history and hence, progress. The movement of history thus witnesses constant advance. The movement of history is linear and progressive, and the latest is always the best.

In the Hegelian philosophy of history the ascendancy and unrivalled dominance of modern western civilization represent the synthesis of all that preceded it. The fact that the west is dominant, remains dominant, and is growing in its dominance, indicates that its claim to truth is valid. It also implies that all previous civilizations with their different conceptions of truth and of history, including Islam, have been synthesized and superseded by the present western dispensation, and have now become redundant and moribund. Since the modern west is secular, the implication is that religion is destined to enter the museum of history.

Modern western civilization not only claims that it is the latest and therefore the best, but curiously it also claims that it is the last since it represents the final synthesis in history. They believe their civilization has come to stay and will never be surpassed. They believe the historical process has reached the climax and that the end, whensoever it comes, would validate their claim to truth.

Francis Fukuyama recognized the ascendancy of modern western civilization as the end of history. Samuel Huntington differed. He believed that there is some mopping up operation left since civilizations other than modern western civilization still have some life in them. He envisaged a clash of civilizations before the end of history. he warned that the clash would be essentially between Islam and the West, but confidently expected that it would result with triumph for the west. (sic)

There is one philosopher of history of the western world, Arnold Toynbee, who still remains an enigma. He was a devout Christian and yet his thought was firmly planted in secular western civilization. He struggled to formulate a view of history that would accommodate the western as well as the Christian view of truth and history. His intellectual work contributed to forging the Euro-Jewish/Euro-Christian alliance that now rules the world on behalf of the Euro-Jewish State of Israel.

Source: Signs of the Last Day and the End of History

to be continued....