In modern times, the belief prevailed that the world could be shaped and that progress would almost automatically lead to a better tomorrow. Global warming, economic crises, and subjective overloads have shaken this optimism. Today, the primary focus is on mitigating catastrophe. And even if this is successful, we will have to deal with change. Questions of self-preservation will overshadow those of individual and collective self-realization. Adaptation will become the guiding motif of society.

The Corona pandemic has also shown that, in the face of interdependence and ecological dangers, we can no longer indulge in limitless emancipation. Instead, as Philipp Staab points out, the next society will primarily be concerned with stabilizing an increasingly precarious order. However, this results in a crisis of self and time relations, to which the left must also find an answer.