Upheaval and Implosion: Toward a Philosophy of History of the Present

We live at a time of great upheavals. Every sphere of existence is now home to the destabilizing forces that are remoulding the environment, redrawing social boundaries, shaking up the economy and family relations, altering individual psychologies and political orders.

Although my contention is that the world is largely changing through upheavals, combined, the effects of such change lead to what I call “the implosion of history.” In this talk, I discuss the tensions and interplays of upheaval and implosion with respect to the war waged by Putin’s regime in Ukraine. And I suggest that this analysis may prove useful for elaborating a robust philosophy of history in the twenty-first century.