A Philosophy of History in Fragments

This is a philosophical guide to the post-modern historical consciousness. With the demise of the grand narrative, the philosophy of history has become fragmented. Confidence in the increasing transparency of our world is gone. In the post-modern age we see ourselves as dwellers in the prisonhouse of historicity. But we still keep banging on the prisonhouse doors. The book reflects on the limitations of our self understanding and of our world understanding, upon the post-modern imagination; yet it also mobilizes philosophical energies to challenge them. The book discusses historical events, and elementary social experiences, yet also philosophical positions and texts from Plato through Pascal to Derrida. Its philosophical protagonists are Kant, in his conception of culture, and Hegel, in his philosophy of the Absolute Spirit.