In a sense, all technology is biotechnology: machines interacting with human organisms. Technology is designed to overcome the frailties and limitations of human beings in a state of nature -- to make us faster, stronger, longer-lived, smarter, happier. And all technology raises questions about its real contribution to human welfare: are our lives really better for the existence of the automobile, television, nuclear power? These questions are ethical and political, as well as medical; and they even reach to the philosophical (...) and spiritual. On the whole, we seem pretty well adapted to our technology, at least on the face of it -- but there have always been doubts about whether the human soul thrives best in the oppressively technological world we have created for ourselves. (I am continually struck by how much time I have to spend fixing the machines that supposedly improve my life.). (shrink)

Ever since its first publication in 1992, The End of History and the Last Man has provoked controversy and debate. Francis Fukuyama's prescient analysis of religious fundamentalism, politics, scientific progress, ethical codes, and war is as essential for a world fighting fundamentalist terrorists as it was for the end of the Cold War. Now updated with a new afterword, The End of History and the Last Man is a modern classic.

Francis Fukuyama's controversial new book, Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution, has elicited varied reactions, but like it or not, it seems likely to be influential. Here are three opinions. —Ed.

Francis Fukuyama is one of the most significant political theorists of the past thirty years. Bursting into public awareness in 1989 with his provocative thesis about "the end of history," Fukuyama has made fascinating contributions to a wide range of subjects - the importance of trust in societies, the potential dangers of biotechnology, the development of political authority and the modern state, and most recently, the role of identity in politics. This book records a series of conversations with Fukuyama in (...) which he discusses his background and its role in shaping his thinking, the context and genesis of his major works, and his thoughts in light of the dramatic developments of the past decade, especially the rise of populism around the world. The result is a fascinating picture of a major intellectual. The book both provides an overview of Fukuyama's thought and reveals new insights into his best-known work. This book also allows readers to trace the themes which have animated Fukuyama's entire intellectual career. (shrink)

Clinical ethics support, including ethics consultation, has become established in the field of medical practice throughout the world. This practice has been regarded as useful, most notably in the UK and the USA, in solving ethical problems encountered by both medical practitioners and those who receive medical treatment. In Japan, however, few services are available to respond to everyday clinical ethical issues, although a variety of difficult ethical problems arise daily in the medical field: termination of life support, euthanasia and (...) questions about patient autonomy. In light of these conditions, a group of 17 volunteer educators and researchers from the area of biomedical ethics, including the authors, have formed the Clinical Ethics Support and Education Project, and began providing Japan’s first small team clinical ethics consultation service in October, 2006. Members include scholars of biomedical ethics, scholars of philosophy and ethics, legal professionals and legal scholars, nurses and doctors, consisting of five women and 12 men. Consultation teams, made up of a small number of members, were organised each time a request for consultation was received. Over approximately 15 months (October 2006–December 2007), the programme received 22 consultation requests from medical practitioners and medical institutions, and three from the families of patients. In this paper, we will discuss the status of our consultation service and examples of consultation cases we have handled. In addition, we will examine the process of evaluating small team clinical ethics consultation services, as well as the strengths and weakness of such programmes. (shrink)

In the past thirty years, the United States has undergone a profound transformation in its social structure: Crime has increased, trust has declined, families have broken down, and individualism has triumphed over community. Has the Great Disruption of recent decades rent the fabric of American society irreparably? In this brilliant and sweeping work of social, economic, and moral analysis, Francis Fukuyama shows that even as the old order has broken apart, a new social order is already taking its place. The (...) Great Disruption forges a new model for understanding the Great Reconstruction that is under way. (shrink)

The argument contained in The End of History and the Last Man consists of an empirical part and a normative part: critics have confused the two and their proper relationship. The assertion that we have reached the "end of history" is not a statement about the empirical condition of the world, but a normative argument concerning the justice or adequacy of liberal democratic political institutions. The normative judgment is critically dependent on empirical evidence concerning, for example, the workability of capitalist (...) and socialist economic systems, but ultimately rests on supra-empirical grounds. The empirical part concerns whether there is something like the Hegelian-Marxist concept of History as a coherent, directional evolution of human societies taken as a whole. The answer to this is yes, and lies in the phenomenon of economic modernization based on the directional unfolding of modern natural science. The latter has unified mankind to an unprecedented degree, and gives us a basis for believing that there will be a gradual spread of democratic capitalist institutions over time. This empirical conclusion, however, does no more than give us hope that there is a progressive character to world history, and does not prove the normative case. The normative grounding of modern liberal democracy has indeed been put in jeopardy by the philosophical "crisis of modernity" inaugurated by Nietzsche and Heidegger. Contemporary postmodernist critiques of the possibility of such a grounding have not, however, adequately come to terms with the destructive consequences of their views for liberal democratic societies. This aporia, discussed most seriously in the Strauss-Kojève debate, is the central intellectual issue of our age. (shrink)

BackgroundNo laws or official guidelines govern voluntary assisted dying (VAD) in Japan. A legislative bill on the termination of life-sustaining measures has yet to be sent to deliberations for legislation, due to strong opposition that has prevented it from being submitted to the Diet. However, Japan has recently witnessed several cases involving VAD.Main textAgainst this backdrop, we argue that Japan should begin discussion on VAD legislation, referring to the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2017 (VADA2017), which was established in 2017 in (...) Victoria, Australia. VADA2017 puts in place a wide range of stringent safeguards and is considered worldwide to be the safest and most conservative policy on a physician offering assisted dying based on the patient’s premeditated request. We consider what opposing opinions from society would arise in response to the VADA2017. Among these will include arguments against VAD itself, those against the validation of this act, and opinions that oppose even the initiation of the dialogue on VAD.ConclusionsWe conclude that to protect the right to life among those placed in vulnerable positions and, at the same time, to respect decision-making of those who wish for immediate death due to unbearable suffering, the dialogue must immediately begin with that on introducing a policy more conservative than that of the VADA2017, which solidly considers arguments against VAD. (shrink)

Hello, my name is Francis Fukuyama and I am delighted to be able to participate in this symposium at EAFIT, on The End of History? I am a Senior fellow at Stanford University and in the summer of 1989, I published an article in the journal The National Interest titled The End of History? 30 years have passed since the publication of this article and this was a good opportunity to reflect on what has happened to the state of global (...) democracy and global politics in those three decades. (shrink)

Objective: This study examined the process through which elderly patients with new-onset acute leukemia make treatment decisions from the time of diagnosis, in order to identify factors influencing this decision-making process in Japan. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty-two elderly patients with leukemia. The data were analyzed using the modified grounded theory approach. Results: The process of decision-making in elderly patients with leukemia includes three stages: Initial reactions at diagnosis, change in attitudes, and entrusting the physician with the treatment (...) plan. Initial reactions at diagnosis were affected by interactions with others that brought peace of mind to the patients. Change in attitudes was affected by encouragement from others to undergo treatment and their own motivation to face treatment. Patients came to entrust their treatment plan completely to their physician, because they wanted to feel relief and did not want to have to grapple with difficult medical information that was relevant to decision-making about their disease and treatment options. Conclusions: The process of decision-making in elderly patients with leukemia is affected by several factors and included three stages. Our present study findings can provide suggestions on how medical professionals might better support the process of decision-making in elderly patients with leukemia. (shrink)

No laws or official guidelines govern medical assistance for dying in Japan. However, over the past several years, cases of assisted suicide or voluntary euthanasia, rarely disclosed until recently, have occurred in close succession. Inspired by these events, ethical, legal, and social debates on a patient’s right to die have arisen in Japan, as it has in many other countries. Several surveys of Japanese people’s attitudes towards voluntary assisted dying suggest that a certain number of Japanese prefer active euthanasia. Against (...) this background, it is important to discuss voluntary assisted dying cases in Japan and the Japanese views on them and to consider their implications. We review three recent Japanese voluntary assisted dying cases and discuss the various objections to voluntary assisted dying that have been published in response to these in various media outlets. Our counterarguments include the double suffering of people who are unable to give up their desire to die, individuality of death, variability of culture, problem of being an annoyance to (burden on) others, a slippery slope argument supporting voluntary assisted dying, and unfair claims about responsibility and excessive burden on people who are unable to give up their desire to die. We also point out the psychocultural and social problems in Japanese society that these objections reflect, and argue that voluntary assisted dying can be ethically acceptable under certain conditions. We conclude that Japanese society must change in order to enable those who sincerely wish to die to do so in a better way. (shrink)

: The technologies at the intersection of assisted reproduction and genetics call for a new regulatory approach, say Franco Furger and Francis Fukuyama, authors of the recent report Beyond Bioethics. In the essay below they map out their recommendation. In the following essays, James Fossett argues that regulation is likelier—and would be better—at the state level, Leonard Fleck calls for more robust public involvement, and John Robertson recommends sticking with the status quo. Turning from procedural to substantive issues, Josephine Johnston (...) takes up Furger and Fukuyama’s suggestion that children have a right to a traditional genetic parentage. (shrink)

Patient families sometimes ask health professionals, ‘What would you do if this were your family member?’ The purpose of this paper is to examine appropriate responses to this Question. Health professionals may say, ‘It all depends on the patient's wishes’, or ‘I don't know what is best, because my family is different from yours in many ways’. Some may believe that the most favourable course of action is the same regardless of who the patient is and explain this to the (...) patient's family, while others may refuse to answer the Question saying it is personal, or argue that such a Question should neither be asked nor answered because it is unreasonable and unprofessional to do so. We believe that, in principle, health professionals should give an honest answer as to what they would do if the patient was their family member, recognising and empathising with the fact that the patient's family is in a difficult and vulnerable position, and that their circumstances forced them to ask such a Question. Moreover, personal and emotional views of health professionals regarding treatment options may help the patient's family make important decisions. An honest answer will help strengthen the trusting relationship between health professionals and the patient's family and support their decision-making. (shrink)

Moral leadership matters. As world politics enters a new and dangerous era, judgment, constancy, moral purpose, and a willingness to overcome partisan politicking are essential for America's leaders. Tempered Strength finds the alternative standard of leadership that Americans are seeking in the classical philosophy of prudence. Ethan Fishman's new work brings together leading American political scientists—including Ronald Beiner, Kenneth L. Deutsch, and George Anastaplo—to discuss the evolution of a standard of prudential leadership both reasonable in nature and practical in scope. (...) Section One studies the meaning of prudence and its evolution in the history of political science from Aristotelian phronesis to Xenophon, Thomas Aquinas, Edmund Burke, and Michael Oakeshott. Section Two demonstrates how the theory of prudential leadership can be applied to practical political issues. (shrink)

Francis Fukuyama has argued that history has come to an end. His argument is a philosophical reading of history which derives philosophical implications from empirical views about human economy, society, recent history and the human conditions for self-realization and flourishing. It is this movement between empirical description and philosophical conceptualization that my paper explores, a movement which is both fascinating and problematical. The paper does not seek to “refute” Fukuyama, whose ideas have great currency with significant reason and assumes that (...) there is some thing significant about the idea of the end of history. It is rather concerned to insert a certain skepticism about the dialectic between empirical description and philosophical conceptualization. What the paper comes down against is the assurance that a philosophical structure can be assigned to history. The paper is part of a larger project about philosophical constructions of finality where similar conclusions are drawn. These are drawn in order to suggest that much of the modern/postmodern debate operates within an Hegelian frame work that entitles a philosophical reading of human affairs with respect to their finality, a finality which is supposed to be happening now. (shrink)

In the early 1990s the American academic, political commentator and government advisor, Francis Fukuyama, leapt to prominence with his argument that society had entered a new and lasting phase. He claimed that the change was so dramatic that it might be accurately depicted as the end of history. Fukuyama derived his argument from the writings of Kant, Hegel and a critical reading of Marx. This new phase represented the worldwide triumph of liberal democracy with the collapse of communism. History has (...) ended in the sense that there is no more room for large ideological battles. (shrink)

This philosophical discussion of history is divided into three parts: the first analyzes Fukuyama's view of history; the second analyzes Marx's view of history; and the third looks at the approach of modernity to the discussion of history.

English summary: Since Herodotus and Thucydides the assumption that the historic structures of the past sooner or later reappear in the present and future has provided a methodological basis for all serious historic philosophical debate, and the ultimate social self-justification within historical disciplines. In addition to a broad methodological introduction to the subject, this volume contains selected contributions to the cyclical and biological patterns of thought in the philosophy of history including such diverse thinkers as Plato, Aristotle, Polybius, Sallust, Virgil, (...) Livy, Seneca, Orosius, Simplicius, Proclus, Joachim of Fiore, Machiavelli, Vico, Kant, Hegel, Spengler, Thomas Mann, Toynbee, Huntington and Fukuyama. German description: Seit Herodot und Thukydides gilt die Annahme, daa die historischen Strukturen der Vergangenheit fruher oder spater auch in Gegenwart und Zukunft wiederkehren, als methodologische Grundlage allen echten geschichtsphilosophischen Argumentierens und als ultimative gesellschaftliche Selbstbegrundung der historischen Disziplinen. Unter den verschiedenen diesbezuglichen Denkschulen, welche sich in der Antike und im Abenland herausgebildet haben, war die Vermutung, politische oder kulturelle Einheiten konnten sich analog zum Lebenszyklus naturlicher Korper verhalten und biologistische bzw. zyklische Etappen wie Geburt, Wachstum, Reife, Alter und Tod bzw. Neubeginn erleben, ganz besonders wirkmachtig und pragt auch heute noch unter dem Schlagwort vom Aufstieg und Niedergang der groaen Hochkulturen unser Verstandnis von den notwendigen Etappen einer jeden Zivilisation. Vorliegender Band beinhaltet, neben einer breiten methodologischen Einfuhrung in das Thema, ausgewahlte Beitrage zu zyklischen und biologistischen Denkstrukturen in der Geschichtsphilosophie so unterschiedlicher Denker wie Platon, Aristoteles, Polybios, Sallust, Vergil, Livius, Seneca, Orosius, Simplikios, Proklos, Joachim von Fiore, Machiavelli, Vico, Kant, Hegel, Spengler, Thomas Mann, Toynbee, Huntington und Fukuyama. (shrink)

En su más reciente ensayo, Francis Fukuyama aborda uno de los temas centrales de la teoría política contemporánea: los desafíos que representan las exigencias de los grupos identitarios para la democracia liberal.

Recenze knihy:Fukuyama, Francis: Identity. The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2018.

Recenze knihy:Fukuyama, Francis: Identity. The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2018.

헤겔의 윤리학 내지 사회 · 정치철학에서 아주 많이 거론되고 있는 핵심문제들 가운데 하나가 바로 인정(認定) 내지 승인(承認)의 문제다. 그리고 많은 연구자들은 이 문제를 논의할 때 헤겔의 『정신현상학』(Phänomenologie des Geistes, 1807)을 그 중심 텍스트로 삼고 있다. 물론, 사회 속에서 발생하는 인간 상호간의 인정(승인)문제는 실로 중요한 문제가 아닐 수 없다. 사소한 다툼에서부터, 죽음을 초래하기까지 하는 전쟁에 이르기까지의 거의 모든 투쟁의 배경 내지 근저에는 바로 인간 상호간의 인정 내지 무시(無視)가 깔려있기 때문이다. 그러나 적어도 헤겔이 정신현상학에서 말하고 있는 생사를 건 인정투쟁은, 국가가 성립하기 이전의 (...) 자연상태에서 일어나는 현상이지, 결코 국가 속에서 발생하는 사건이 아니라는 점을 간과해서는 안 된다. 헤겔은 후자의 상태(조건)에서 발생하는 투쟁을 결코 ‘인정투쟁’이라고 부르지 않고 ‘결투’라고 불렀다. 이 점을 많은 사람들이 혼동하고 있다. 헤겔이 말하는 맥락을 떠난 의미의 ‘인정투쟁’이 국가 속에서 일어나고 있다고 말할 수 있지만, 그것은 결코 헤겔이 말하는 바가 아니다. 이 점을 입증하기 위해 필자는『정신현상학』이전의 헤겔의 저술들인 『인륜의 체계』(System der Sittlichkeit, 1802/03)와 『예나체계기획』(Jenenser Systementwürfe, 1803/04; 1805/06)에 나타난 인정 및 인정투쟁의 문제를 함께 검토한다. 이 글에서는 후쿠야마의 경우를 예로 들어, 원 저자가 사용한 용어의 본래 의미를 벗어나 자의적(恣意的)으로 용어를 사용하는 오류를 지적하고자 한다. 아울러, 인정투쟁의 결과로 발생하는 주인과 노예와 관련된 그의 이해의 문제점, 플라톤의 혼 3분설에 대한 그의 해석과 관련된 인간본성에 대한 이해의 오류, 특히 ‘패기’[thymos]에 대한 이해의 문제점 등을 지적함으로써 그의 주장이 철학의 고전적인 텍스트들에 대한 깊이 있는 독서 및 정확한 이해를 결여하고 있음을 드러낸다. 이 글의 성격상, ‘역사의 종말’에 대한 그의 이해가 지니고 있는 문제점들에 관해서는 글의 주제와 관련해서만 언급된다. (shrink)

Bu çalışma ilkin, ütopyacı düşünceye karşı istikrarlı bir muhalefet yürüten liberal düşüncenin sağ kanadındaki Karl Popper ve Francis Fukuyama gibi kanonik isimlerin yaklaşımlarının, zamanın sosyo-ekonomik gelişmelerinin katkısıyla genel siyaset düşüncesinin ana akımına bürünmesi sürecini ve ütopyaya ilişkin fikirlerini değerlendirecektir. Bir kez müesses nizam haline geldiği vakit menşeindeki ütopyacı niteliklerin hilafına değişimin ancak tedricen olması gerektiğini ve aksini savunan siyasal tavır alışların da yersiz radikalizmle malul siyaset dışı yönelimler olduğunu iddia eden ana akım liberal çizginin savunucuları olarak Popper ve Fukuyama, bu (...) çizgilerini radikal bir antikomünizmle taçlandırmışlardır. Aynı çizgide bu kez liberal düşüncenin sol cenahındaki sol-sosyalist fikri inkişaf döneminin ürünü çaplı toplumsal değişim taleplerini, radikal diye tabir ederek neredeyse affedilmez birer kusur gibi kabul eden kimi sol liberal feminist yaklaşımlar ile yenilginin sözde faturasını bu radikalizme keserek siyasal faaliyetini melankolik bir yazıklanmanın ötesine geçiremeyen birtakım liberal sol tavırların bu süreçteki rolü tartışılacaktır. Sonuç itibarıyla bu çalışma, çoğunlukla itham biçiminde zikredilen ütopyacılık tabirini, bu menfi kullanımın nesnesi olmaktan kurtarmak için alternatif ve daha iyi bir yaşama dair yolların çeşitlenmesinin önemli bir başlangıç noktası olarak bir paye gibi kabullenip sahiplenen Ernst Bloch’un umut mefhumu üzerinden yepyeni bir ontolojik ve epistemolojik inşaya tabi tutarak, ütopyacılığın bir tür iade-i itibarına odaklanacaktır. (shrink)

This past February 22–24, the University of Virginia held a specially arranged conference on the subject of “Fukuyama and the End of History.” Invitations were extended to philosophers, historians, political scientists, sociologists, economists, and literary critics, with the host university contributing a number a speakers. Each person attending the conference received a copy of Francis Fukuyama’s well known article, “The End of History?” from The National Interest, 16 : 3–18, and Fukuyama himself was expected to attend. At the last minute (...) the organizers learned of the existence of Philip Grier’s “The End of History, and the Return of History,” which would within the next few weeks appear in The Owl, 21, 2 : 131–144. Upon receiving it, and the permission of the Editor of The Owl, the organizers decided to provide an advance copy of this article to everyone attending, along with the Fukuyama piece, so that the controversy over the latter’s possible mis-appropriation of Hegel would be a theme for discussion from the outset. (shrink)

This past February 22–24, the University of Virginia held a specially arranged conference on the subject of “Fukuyama and the End of History.” Invitations were extended to philosophers, historians, political scientists, sociologists, economists, and literary critics, with the host university contributing a number a speakers. Each person attending the conference received a copy of Francis Fukuyama’s well known article, “The End of History?” from The National Interest, 16 : 3–18, and Fukuyama himself was expected to attend. At the last minute (...) the organizers learned of the existence of Philip Grier’s “The End of History, and the Return of History,” which would within the next few weeks appear in The Owl, 21, 2 : 131–144. Upon receiving it, and the permission of the Editor of The Owl, the organizers decided to provide an advance copy of this article to everyone attending, along with the Fukuyama piece, so that the controversy over the latter’s possible mis-appropriation of Hegel would be a theme for discussion from the outset. (shrink)