The Starting Point: 1989 as a Threefold Caesura
This text is a preview of History of the Reception of Hegel, volume II, to be published in 2026 by Reflexivity Press.
The Global Ethic Project does not arise by chance. It responds to a historical situation in which three crises converge.
Politically, the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 marks the end of the bloc confrontation. The world is no longer divided into East and West – but what follows? Francis Fukuyama proclaimed the “end of history,” the triumph of liberal capitalism. Samuel Huntington prophesied the “clash of civilizations” – new conflicts along religious and cultural lines. Both diagnoses were one-sided, but they showed that the old order had collapsed and a new one had not yet been found.
Philosophically, postmodernism proclaims the “end of the grand narratives.” Marxism, liberalism, the optimism of progress – all universalist master narratives appear discredited. But what should take their place? Pure relativism leads into arbitrariness, in which every position counts equally little. The question is: is there a form of universality still tenable after postmodern critique?
Theologically, the religions face global problems that none of them can solve alone: environmental destruction, the danger of war, economic injustice. The religions can no longer act against one another – they must cooperate. But on what basis? Each religion claims to know the truth. How can they collaborate without abandoning their respective truth claims?
Küng’s diagnosis: the fragmentation of the modern world has become destructive. Nations, religions, cultures act against rather than with one another. Without a common ethical basis, fundamentalisms, culture conflicts, and ecological catastrophe threaten. The question is not whether we need universality, but what kind of universality is possible and legitimate.