The End of History: n Essay on Modern Hegelianism

Carl Spadoni was Research Collections Librarian at the Mills Library, McMaster University, Hamilton.

Having previously written two books, one an introduction to the work of Michel Foucault and the other on the political philosophy of Jean-Jacques Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Barry Cooper, a professor of political science at the University of Calgary, can be regarded as an authority on Continental philosophy. The End of History is chiefly a commentary on Alexandre Kojève’s Introduction a la Lecture de Hegel (Paris: Gallimard, 1947), notes and transcripts of lectures on Hegel’s Phanomenologie des Geistes delivered by Kojève between 1933 and 1939 at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes, collected and edited by Raymond Queneau. Cooper’s title refers to the Hegelian doctrine that the dialectic has run its course and that nothing new can really happen. We are supposedly living in the post-historical period of the universal, homogeneous state in which Spirit is fully realized. In interpreting Hegel, it was this doctrine in particular that Kojève emphasized and defended. To most people, and certainly to most philosophers, this doctrine appears preposterous. What is amazing is that Cooper admits that the doctrine is obviously bizarre, and yet he maintains nevertheless that Kojève’s analysis makes sense of the current political order. Consequently, Cooper’s book is not merely a commentary but is also a philosophical treatise.

The book begins with a discussion of Hobbes as a theorist of political modernity and as an important percursor of Hegel. The reader is then presented with an in-depth treatment of Kojève’s interpretation of Hegel’s philosophy. The last part of the book returns to the subject of modernity and applies Kojève’s world-view to contemporary problems and phenomena such as the nuclear threat, the Gulag system of extermination, and the proliferation of powerful multinational corporations. According to Cooper, not only is Kojève’s interpretation of Hegel consistent, but much of the social and political upheaval of the twentieth century is a vindication of this form of Hegelianism.

It is generally acknowledged that Kojève’s impact on Hegelian scholarship and on the development of existentialism and phenomenology in France has been considerable. Unfortunately, Cooper has gone completely overboard in championing Kojève’s opinions and influence. As a commentary, Cooper’s book lacks a critical focus and appears heavily padded. As an original work in the philosophy of politics, his book will have a limited appeal and will convince only those who readily recognize the manifestations of the Hegelian Absolute.