No Ending In History

In the context of the upheaval in Soviet-Eastern Euro, Francis Fukuyama came up with'the end of history'. He thought that liberal democracy had defeated the rival Facism, Communism and other ideologies, as the former means'the end of human ideological development' and 'the last form of mankind's govern'. The history of mutual competition between different ideologies and social systems had been over, so human history will be ended in liberal democratic society, for that society fully meets human's desire to achieve recognition. Obviously,'the end of history' by Fukuyama is a theoretical expression of the optimistic emotion, which is found all over the West after the end of the Cold War. Then that viewpoint won a comprehensive prevalence and influences, and also it encountered the fierce criticism from the Left and Right Wings.This paper attempts to retrospect and explore the development of'the end of history' in manner of intellectual history, then goes on to illustrate this point: Fukuyama constructs his own systematic idea of 'the end of history' on the basis of Hegel's and Kojeve's thoughts about'the end of history'. In the perspective and approach of intellectual history, we can better grasp the context of the development in 'the end of history', find its value and significance, then deliver some necessary critique.The whole paper mainly consists of five parts. The introduction outlines this paper's research value and practical significance, moreover, analyses the research status about this subject home and abroad. Chapterl mainly describes the origins of Fukuyama's'the end of history', and introduces Hegel's and Kojeve's ideas respectively; Chapter2 summarizes Fukuyama's writings, academic resources, and the historical background of'the end of history', furtherly represents his unique viewpoint; Chapter3 discusses the criticisms confronted by Fukuyama's'the end of history',which are from the left and right wings, especially represented by Derrida and Huntington respectively. In the end, the conclusion makes a brief summary of this article.