Between Meme and Man
Francis Fukuyama’s premature triumphalism rendered him more meme than man – while leaving the man radically ill-equipped to understand either the miseries of our present or how they might be overcome
TL;DR
- Francis Fukuyama achieved fame with his 1989 essay "The End of History?", which became a meme defining an era.
- His memoir, 'In the Realm of the Last Man,' focuses on his intellectual path but lacks personal emotion and relationship details.
- The article argues Fukuyama's 'End of History' thesis, influenced by Hegel and Kojève, was a neoconservative update that overlooked the complexities and darker sides of the post-Cold War era.
- Fukuyama broke with the neoconservative network over the Iraq War but has otherwise followed a similar political trajectory, criticizing progressive "wokeness."
- The author contends that Fukuyama's intellectual limitations, including his lack of engagement with the left and his "casual empiricism," leave him ill-equipped to understand current global crises.
- Despite his critiques of neoconservatism and neoliberalism, Fukuyama's views are still seen as limited, and his triumphalist stance after 1989 is presented as a "false dawn."