Narratives of Modernity — How did the social and political philosophers of the 19th and 20th centuries diagnose the modern social and political condition?
Just like we used the word “ancient” even though it was big and globby and already “modern” has covered about six centuries so far, from the mid 15th century to the late 20th . So in the From Ancients to Modern class we really just got to early modern, and this course is late modern.
We left off at Hegel, so now we are at Marx 1841 – 1875.
Once again, I have had to show severe restraint in selecting texts. This syllabus could be rewritten a number of times and ways and I have plans to do so.
First we have preoccupation with revolution, and exploration of Marx’s texts and their legacy. We wonder if the revolution will be brought about by a social movement or by the laws of history. We wonder if its possible to reach unmediated relationships with God, others, and ourselves. We wonder if social relations are an epiphenomena of economic relations. Why can’t we all live the perfect day? Why can’t we all contribute according to our highest talents and receive according to our needs? Why isn’t there a revolution yet?
Then we get into Nietzsche and wonder if there is a battle between civilization and culture? What is making us sick and weak and how can we overcome ourselves?
With Max Weber we explore what capitalism through a protestant lens. We wonder if all of the advancements of modernity are somehow blinding us from something, why are we unfilled, what is modern malaise all about?
Nationalism is another phenomena to be analyzed, a term to be excavated in the exploration of modern political thought.
Humanism and Terror and Revolt of the Masses are attempts at articulating what could be threatening humanity in social and political conditions of the twentieth century.
Arendt’s On Totalitarianism is an attempt to think about what people were doing socially and how it played out on the political scene. Historically, this text barely scrapes the surface of the history of this abyss. These dark hours of Modernity certainly deserves extensive study beyond this text.
At this point in the syllabus, I take a shift towards the academic analysis of the history of political thought; scholarly attempts to characterize the landscape of political philosophy in response to modernity.
Finally, I end with a couple of thinkers who return to the question of justice and have nuanced view of what modern politics could be at its best.
Nietzsche 1872- 1888 — Right after we figure out how the same set of Marx’s text inspired utopias and horrors, we get to Nietzsche, who will, in fact, blow your mind. He re interprets stories from the Bible, he draws dancing and music into relation with philosophy, he writes a fabulous in the literal sense of the term– like a fable- book. He uses symbolism and imagery. He refers to myth and employs allegory. Passion and emotion leap off the page. He will take you everywhere from the highest mountain top to the deepest nihilism. This is philosophy done with a hammer. And somehow at the end of it, you feel like you learned something about the characteristics of modernity, about the difference between civilization and culture, and why you need a spirit animal.
Max Weber — Politics as a Vocation (1919) is the text I would cite when I’m telling St. Peter why a politician is not that bad. Maybe he was called to it. This is an interesting text because here we are in modernity and he’s bringing up the idea of a calling. The interplay of caller and called is like the antidote of ideas of force and coercion, but yet, much to do with power. It paints a portrait of a man of politics as a person who answers the call and once again I’m reminded of Pericles Funeral Oration actually here. So Weber is reaching back to the ancients to pull out an example of a positive relation between politics and ethical life.
The Protestant work ethic and the spirit of capitalism (1904, 1930) is the book I would give the aliens when they ask me how Protestants in the U.S. tick. Weber in his famous essay Rationalization and the Iron Cage writes about how the values of efficiency and technique characteristic of the workplace can be unfulfilling on the level of values. So we are more and more reasonable, technically capable and yet in a malaise. Look at all the progress we have, why aren’t we happy in modernity?
Ortega y Gasset 1932 — The Revolt of the Masses
Merleau-Ponty 1947 — Humanism and Terror. French perspective, coming to grips with Stalinism and Cold War Europe
Arendt On Totalitarianism 1951 covers (1890s- 1940s)
Michael Oakeshott 1962 – Rationalism in Politics
Leo Strauss 1968 Liberalism Ancient and Modern
William Connolly– 1988 Political Theory and Modernity
E.J. Hobsbawm- Nations and Nationalism 1990 (covers 1780-1990)
Sheldon Wolin 1990 — The Presence of the Past
Habermas 1991 Justification and Application: Remarks on Discourse Ethics
Charles Taylor 1992 The Politics of Recognition
Bonnie Honig– 1993 Political Theory and the Displacement of Politics