Part I: World history 1. The Axial Period 2. Schema of World History 3. Prehistory 4. The Ancient Historical Civilisations 5. The Axial Period and its Consequences 6. The Specific Quality of the West 7. Orient and Occident: The Eastern and the Western World 8. Once More: A Schema of History Part II: Present and Future 9. The Intrinsically New: Science and Technology 10. The Present Situation of the World 11. The Future Part III: The Meaning of History 12. Boundaries of History 13. Basic Structures of History 14. The Unity of History 15. Our Modern Historical Consciousness 16. Overcoming History