What about the future? Re-opening horizons: philosophy of history and global challenges

Public lecture with Elia Zaru, political theorist and historian of political thought at the University of Milan and Stiftung Südtiroler Sparkasse Global Fellow 2026

Contemporary societies increasingly orient themselves toward the past, while the future contracts into a space of limited possibility. Terms such as post-truth and post-democracy signal not only conceptual fatigue but also a broader temporal shift that underpins what Elia Zaru calls a politics of the post: a mode of public reasoning that declares the present order as the only viable horizon.

Within this closure, two apparently opposed tendencies converge. On the one hand, the nostalgic appeal of Make America/Europe Great Again; on the other, the identitarian strand of certain decolonial discourses seeking a return to an imagined pre-colonial origin. Despite their distance, both rely on a reductive, unilinear idea of history that narrows political imagination and weakens collective agency. This temporal impasse directly affects our ability to confront today’s global and local challenges: climate change, democratic backsliding, social inequalities, and geopolitical fragmentation. In line with Eurac Research’s mission to generate knowledge for shaping future-oriented, inclusive, and sustainable policies, the lecture explores alternative models of historical temporality – plural, layered, and conflictual rather than linear.

Rethinking the modern categories of progress and revolution as nonlinear, critical tools can help reopen the horizon of the future. Reclaiming the future is not merely a theoretical gesture; it is a practical condition for designing transformative policies capable of addressing the global crises of our time.

Language: English
Registration: no registration required

Event website: What about the future? Re-opening horizons: philosophy of history and global challenges – Eurac Research