Abstract

The general task of this meditation is to understand the philosophical underpinnings of world order thinking, i.e., its grounding in the metaphysics of subjectivity of the modern age initiated by Descartes and completed by Nietzsche. The thought of Martin Heidegger, in particular his critique of the history of metaphysics, is appropriated and applied to world order thinking. The specific task here is to elucidate the consequent of a conditional proposition: If Heidegger's thinking of the history of metaphysics as the history of Being is compelling, then world order thinking rests on flawed metaphysical presuppositions. In short, ontological and epistemological difficulties remain most at issue for world order thinking, despite the urgency of global problems. ;World order thinking is understood by way of the rubrics "normative futurism" and "technocratic futurism". When examined in light of the dominance of subjectivism, however, this distinction collapses. Both modes of futurism involve a strategic rationality, what Heidegger calls "calculative thinking". That is, value-thinking which characterizes normative futurism is, metaphysically, the same as the technocratic rationality of technocratic futurism. A technocratic world order--global governance by way of the planetary domination of technology--is the tacit, if not explicit, promise of both modes of futurism. This is particularly the case with respect to the systems approach to world order, i.e., the application of systems philosophy or General Systems Theory to the problem of world order. Heidegger's "fundamental ontology", in particular his articulation of the ontological structures of human Dasein, challenges the legitimacy of all world order thinking which is governed by the metaphysics of subjectivity. This metaphysical horizon promises total conquest of the earth along the path of technologically organized man--a path which is coordinate with the hegemony of Western reason qua scientific-technological reason. ;Notwithstanding, the positive dimension of this Heideggerian critique is such as to sustain and buttress the world order movement. A critique of the metaphysics of subjectivity grants support to the movement's challenge to the logic of statecraft and its ordering principle of sovereignty. Moreover, Heidegger's thought promises to illuminate the character of planetary thinking and planetary dwelling