Europe: A Philosophical History, Part 1: The Promise of Modernity

In the two volumes of Europe: A Philosophical History - The Promise of Modernity and Beyond Modernity - Simon Glendinning takes up this question, telling the story of Europe’s history as a philosophical history.

In Part 1, The Promise of Modernity, Glendinning examines the conception of Europe that links it to ideas of rational Enlightenment and modernity. Tracking this self-understanding as it unfolds in the writings of Kant, Hegel and Marx, Glendinning explores the transition in Europe from a conception of its modernity that was philosophical and religious to one which was philosophical and scientific. While this transition profoundly altered Europe’s own history, Glendinning shows how its self-confident core remained intact in this development. But not for long. This volume ends with an examination of the abrupt shattering of this confidence brought on by the first world-wide war of European origin – and the imminence of a second. The promise of modernity was in ruins. Nothing, for Europe, would ever be the same again.

Part 2: Beyond Modernity is available now from Routledge. ISBN 9781032015828