Introduction

This chapter is a detailed overview of the book, with particular attention to the social and political ramifications of the idea of infinite growth. The sections, From Theology to Omnipower of Reason to Hegel and the Idea of the State, cover the material in Chap. 2 . They address the evolution and ultimate crisis of European rationalism from Descartes to Hegel, providing historical and epistemological background for the consequent chapters. The following section, From State Power to the Power of Historical Consciousness, addresses the reevaluation of Hegel by his left-wing followers, who turned the closed-ended Hegelian dialectic into an instrument of radical social critique, the central topic of Chap. 3 . The section Marx’s Dialectic of Technology and Infinite Progress explores the central theme of Chap. 4 : inconsistency between the circular structure of Marx’s dialectic of labor and the postulate of infinite technological progress. Chapter 5 examines epistemological, historical, and social aspects of the debates on the ‘end of science’ and ‘limits to growth,’ which are only briefly addressed throughout this introductory chapter.