ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores the historical self-understanding of those who have called themselves “Europeans”, and shows how Europe's distinctively “modern” cultural formation was rooted in a general sense of human history. It suggests that a new conception of Man and history, a new conception of being human, is in fact beginning to coalesce in European thought in our time, though still fairly obscurely and tentatively. The book covers the ground between the time when the European world was dominated by Christianity and Christian ecclesiastical power, and Europe in our time, when it is not. It covers the history of European philosophical history from the end of the Second World War to Brexit and Covid-19.
