Post-historical Humanity
A Milestone Documents E-text
Table of Contents
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Abstract
If prehistorical humanity refers to primitive human existence prior to the emergence of the earliest civilizations, the term post-historical humanity refers to a projected future condition of humanity—a radically transformed condition by comparison with the present state. The expected transformation is usually described as an improvement or enhancement of existing human capacities, and the hope for such an improvement is connected primarily with the promises of modern science.
Contents
- Unit 1:: The Emergence of the Modern West
- The Protestant Reformation and Its Aftereffects
- The Rebirth of Humanism in the West
- Crises of the Medieval World
- The Emergence of the Modern West - Review
- Unit 2:: The Growth of Western Civilization
- Commodity Trading and the Birth of an Atlantic Economy
- Spain, Portugal, and the Invention of Western Power
- The Emergence of the National Monarchy
- The Growth of Western Civilization - Review
- Unit 3:: From Scientific Revolution to Enlightenment
- The Newtonian Cosmos
- The Destabilization of the Spiritual Worldview
- The Copernican Revolution
- From Scientific Revolution to Enlightenment - Review
- Unit 4:: The Enlightenment
- Kant and the Redemption of Enlightenment
- From Locke to Jefferson
- The Enlightenment - Review
- Unit 5:: An Age of Revolution
- A New Historical Order
- Novus dux Napoleon
- The French Revolution
- An Age of Revolution - Review
- Unit 6:: The Triumph of Bourgeois Consciousness
- Romanticism
- Tradition versus Progress
- The Nation
- The Triumph of Bourgeois Consciousness - Review
- Unit 7:: Industrialization and Its Aftereffects
- From Textiles to Steam Engines
- Intellectual Responses to Industrial Modernity
- Marx and the Communist Manifesto
- Industrialization and Its After-effects - Review
- Unit 8:: The Apex of Modern Civilization
- New States and Old Problems
- Challenges from Without
- Challenges from Within
- The Apex of Modern Civilization - Review
- Unit 9:: New Imperialism
- Prelude to War
- Case Studies in New Imperialism
- Origins and Modes
- New Imperialism - Review
- Unit 10:: World War I
- The Suicide of the West
- Strategies and Operations
- Causes and Contingencies
- World War I - Review
- Unit 11:: Totalitarianism
- Communism in the Soviet Union
- Fascism in Western Europe
- Totalitarianism as Anti-modernity
- Totalitarianism - Review
- Unit 12:: World War II
- The Restoration of Modern Consciousness
- Expansions and Turning Points
- The Inescapable Path to War
- World War II - Review
- Unit 13:: The Cold War
- The Concept of a “Third” World
- The Western Response
- An Ideological Showdown
- The Cold War - Review
- Unit 14:: The West and the “Global” World
- Crises of Climate, Credit, and Historical Consciousness
- Terrorism and Popular Culture
- Imperialism Redefined
- The West and the “Global” World - Review
- Unit 15:: Postmodernism and the End of History
- The Meaning of the “End of the World”
- Lack of Credulity
- Post-historical Humanity
- Postmodernism and the End of History - Review