Lucian Hölscher tracks the history of the future in Europe, from its discovery in the early modern period up to the present day.
Even the future has a history: during the course of time, there have been changes not only in the concrete visions past societies have held of the future, but also in the future as a dimension of social self-organisation.
In an updated and substantially expanded new edition of his standard work, which was published in 1999, Lucian Hölscher tracks the history of the future in Europe, from its discovery in the early modern period up to the present day. He shows how, in cyclic patterns, the anticipatory perspective of the human race has been conquering more and more future spaces for over 300 years. In this way, our life in the present has become fundamentally oriented towards the future.
Lucian Hölscher, professor emeritus for modern history and theory of history at the University of Bochum. Main areas of research: the history of religion, historical semantics and theory of historical eras. Publications include: Semantik der Leere (Semantics of Emptiness, 2009); Geschichte der protestantischen Frömmigkeit in Deutschland (History of Protestant Piety in Germany, 2005), Neue Annalistik (New Annalistic Traditions, 2003).
