Civilization and Its Fate

Abstrakt

We may be generally suspicious of global speculations regarding the future of humanity; but in our contemporary socio-political climate of aggression, violence, and hate, pathos and its derivatives continue to grip world attention, thus subjugating any hope of their abolition to the bleak forecast of pessimism. This essay addresses the role of pathology and destruction in the process of civilization and explores the degree to which the positive significance of the negative may inform new valuation practices that in turn improve human relations and world accord. Juxtaposed to psychoanalytic anthropology, Hegel’s dialectic becomes a logical model for examining the possibility of global amelioration of the pernicious forces that beset the fate of humankind. We must seriously question whether mankind’s aggressive essentialism will eventually lead to the end of the human race.