The End of Certainty – Stephen Chan

‘The core of the book is an extended meditation on how some of the greatest thinkers from all our ‘civilisations’ – artists, scholars and theologians – have always combined a reflection on the world that was nourished by the burning desire to understand the ‘others’ in themselves.  Chan wants to retrieve the enchantment of the world by a process of cultural fusion, which undoes our grand dichotomies and moves us to understand the humanity we share. The passion and rage are palpable, made manifest by references in the text to the sublime of poetics and the savagery of (sexual or political) fanaticism, as is the attempt to involve the reader in post-modern voyage (from manga to Nono) to the end of our sensibilities.  Whether the literary and the analytical (as he says, this is an essay written like a novel) come together in a coherent text – but does it matter?  — will have to be judged by the reader of what is a supremely personal, idiosyncratic and bold enterprise. What is not in doubt is that this is a strikingly original disquisition on international politics, deploying all the cultural, aesthetic, and technological resources of our age to revisit the most important questions of human co-existence.  Chan has had the courage to subvert standard scholarly approaches to show that the very framework within which academics operate is itself an impediment to the leap of imagination required to meet the demands of our sublimely chaotic world. The End of Certainty is a bracing riposte to the West’s intellectual, political and cultural conceit and a most salutary reminder that it is, not the end of history, but merely a link in the long human struggle to make sense of the wonders (or the nightmares) that our ingenuity may fashion.  Each epoch is hollowed by the folly of its (political, religious or technological) gurus so the best we can do is to keep striving with an open mind and, Chan might say, an open heart. The End of Certainty is a tough minded but elegantly written plea for a new way of thinking politically that is rooted in our common history.’ – Patrick Chabal, King’s College London

‘Stephen Chan was advised not to write this book. The reader would be advised to read it and even to read it again. It is a novel of true philosophy, it is philosophy through a novel, it is impressive and fascinating. It is about thought, commitment and love. The point is not to agree or not with Chan but to embark with him on his journey, from certainty to compassion, and to try, with humility and dignity, to find and to give some meaning to our common humanity. This important book is like a circle crossed by woven threads, it is a window to the world as much as a mirror to the self. Profound and refreshing.’ - Tariq Ramadan

‘This is a gloriously ambitious book. No one has done anything like it. The great scholar Stephen Chan sought to write an intellectual essay which would read like a magical realist novel and succeeds. He wanted to speak about complex things with imagination, drawing upon literature, music, history, philosophy and psychoanalysis. He wanted to take us on a journey across continents so that we might challenge the political orthodoxies of our times, which insist with certainty that the values to be championed in a conflicted world are those of the West. The project has produced a book light in touch but displaying extraordinary erudition, which unveils the riches and illuminating perspectives of other cultures and which shows us that there are other ways of creating a better world. Forget Francis Fukuyama and Samuel Huntington. Stephen Chan is the public intellectual with his finger on the global pulse.’ – Baroness Helena Kennedy