The Epoch of Universalism 17691989 / Lpoque de luniversalisme 17691989

2019 witnessed the 30th anniversary of the German reunification. But the remembrance of the fall of the Berlin Wall coincided with another event of global importance that caught much less attention: the 250th anniversary of Napoleon Bonapartes birth. There is an undeniable historical and philosophical dimension to this coincidence. Napoleons appearance on the scene of world history seems to embody European universalism (soon thereafter in the form of a modern imperial project); whilst scholars such as Francis Fukuyama saw in the events of 1989 its historical fulfilment. Today, we see more clearly that the fall of the Berlin Wall stands for an epistemic earthquake, which generated a world that can no longer be grasped through universal concepts. Here, we deal with the idea of Europe and of its relation to the world itself. Picking up on this contingency of world history with an ironic wink, the volume analyses in retrospect the epoch of European universalism. It focusses on its dialectics, polemically addressing and remembering both 1769 and 1989. Lanne 2019 a t marque par le 30e anniversaire de la runification de lAllemagne, clipsant un autre vnement denvergure mondiale : le 250e anniversaire de Napolon Bonaparte. La dimension philosophico-historique de cette concidence ne peut pourtant pas tre nglige : si larrive de Bonaparte sur la scne de lhistoire mondiale semble incarner lavnement de luniversalisme europen (bientt amen prendre sa forme moderne et impriale), certains penseurs ont suggr, avec Francis Fukuyama, que 1989 marquait son accomplissement historique. Aujourdhui, il apparat au contraire que la chute du mur de Berlin a t un vritable tremblement de terre pistmique, et rendu inoprants les concepts universels. Dans le monde daprs, cest lide dEurope et sa relation au monde que nous avons affaire. Revenant par un geste ironique sur cette contingence historique, le prsent volume se veut une analyse rtrospective de lpoque de luniversalisme, dans toute la dialectique que les commmorations de 1769/1989 ont fait surgir.