European Modernity: Paths of Deconstruction and the End of Leadership

Has European modernity reached its end following the major geopolitical transformations the world witnessed at the end of the 20th century? It is time to admit that European modernity's leadership over the world began to wane due to two intrinsic factors: The first is the transformation of 'Enlightenment' values into a colonial-imperial ideology, which culminated in the return of bloody totalitarianisms—Fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism—to the heart of Europe, and the colonization of 'peripheral' peoples, all ending in two catastrophic world wars. The second is the weariness of European philosophers and thinkers with the consequences of a 'modernity' that became synonymous with 'nihilism,' leading them to deconstruct its foundations and policies. However, European modernity would not die so quickly; 'revival' would come from the Anglo-Saxon West. America would declare itself the 'legitimate' heir to the dilapidated legacy of European modernity. Indeed, American pragmatic intelligence managed to find suitable exits from the periodic crises of global capitalism, saving its crumbling imperial system by inventing the 'globalization' system, and consequently 'saving' Europe from the stifling paradoxes of modernity and the nihilism of post-modern exits. Did the philosophical deconstruction of European modernity predict its inevitable end? And was European consciousness aware of the dangers of relinquishing modernity to the Atlantics?

• Author: Mustafa bin Temsikdar
• Publisher: Mominoun Without Borders for Studies and Research-Beirut
• Year of Publication: 2018
• Number of Pages: 341
• Binding Type: Paperback
• ISBN: 9786148030918