The Antimodern Condition
The Antimodern Condition

Author: Peter King

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-04-01

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 1317044940

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Much of social and political thought over the last three centuries has been concerned with transgression and change, with progress and a focus on creating something ’better’ than we have now. But when many of these ideas are put into practice the result has been violence, turmoil and human misery. This, we might say, has been the result of grand ideals taking precedence over the interests of ordinary people. This book presents an alternative view: the antimodern condition. This involves the rejection of change and progress and instead seeks to promote certainty, permanence and settlement. The antimodern condition is where we are in place and settled. It is where we are part of the world around us and not at war with it. It is where we accept our place: we are with those who we care for, and so we are theirs. The antimodern condition is where we recognise that we dwell within traditions, which may evolve and change, but which keep us within the bounds of what is known and what works. This book takes a cross-disciplinary approach, integrating ideas from politics, philosophy, social theory and architecture to present an alternative to progress and other modern conceits.

Arctic Hysteria and Other Strange Northern Emotions
Arctic Hysteria and Other Strange Northern Emotions

Author: Riikka Rossi

Publisher: BoD - Books on Demand

Published: 2024-10-24

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13: 9518589003

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This volume opens a new perspective on the thriving area of research on the imagined North by studying emotions in the light of case studies in Finnish literature. It addresses the cultural history of Arctic hysteria and maps other strange emotions depicted and evoked in literature of the Finnish North. The case studies range from the works of internationally renowned authors, such as Rosa Liksom, Emmi Itäranta and Tove Jansson, to the affectively controversial and provocative writings of Timo K. Mukka, Marko Tapio and Pentti Linkola. By focusing on the imagined North in the literature of modernism and late modernity, the authors offer fresh views on experiences of modernisation and the changing Northern environment in the age of the Anthropocene. The book is intended for scholars and students in literary studies, together with everyone interested in the imagined North and emotion, Finnish literature and culture.

The Premodern Condition
The Premodern Condition

Author: Bruce Holsinger

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2005-12

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 0226349748

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Bruce Holsinger identifies and explains an affinity for medievalism and medieval studies among the leading figures of critical theory. His book contains original essays by Bataille and Bourdieu - translated into English - that testify to the strange persistence of medievalisms in French postwar writings.

Occult Imperium
Occult Imperium

Author: Christian Giudice

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2022-02-03

Total Pages: 345

ISBN-13: 0197610242

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Christian Giudice's Occult Imperium explores Italian national forms of Occultism, chiefly analyzing Arturo Reghini (1878-1946), his copious writings, and Roman Traditionalism. Trained as a mathematician at the prestigious University of Pisa, Reghini was one of the three giants of occult and esoteric thought in Italy, alongside his colleagues Julius Evola (1898-1974) and Giulian Kremmerz (1861-1930). Using Reghini's articles, books, and letters, as a guide, Giudice explores the interaction between occultism, Traditionalism, and different facets of modernity in early-twentieth-century Italy. The book takes into consideration many factors particular to the Italian peninsula: the ties with avant-garde movements such as the Florentine Scapigliatura and Futurism, the occult vogues typical to Italy, the rise to power of Benito Mussolini and Fascism, and, lastly, the power of the Holy See over different expressions of spirituality. Occult Imperium explores the convergence of new forms of spirituality in early twentieth-century Italy.

The Ideology of Political Reactionaries
The Ideology of Political Reactionaries

Author: Richard Shorten

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-12-30

Total Pages: 261

ISBN-13: 1000518418

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The Ideology of Political Reactionaries offers a new perspective on the beliefs reactionaries share, presenting a theory of reactionary ideology in the process. Rather than taking self-contradictions in the reactionary imagination as a reason for diminishment, complexity is taken as a challenge. The book argues that the features that unite reactionaries lie in rhetoric. Reactionaries make three persuasive appeals: to decadence, conspiracy, and indignation. They also display some recurrent styles. The book’s rhetorical approach entails a critique of the alternative approaches to reactionary politics (dubbed as ‘dispositional’, ‘sociological’, and ‘conceptual’). At the heart of the book is the textual analysis of the writings of a range of figures who are chosen in deliberate diversity and who have interacted with political audiences in different eras and settings: Edmund Burke, Joseph de Maistre, Sarah Palin, Donald Trump, Adolf Hitler, Éric Zemmour, Joe McCarthy, Anders Breivik, and Nigel Farage. Analysis of their writings helps the book to reckon with some particular puzzles of ideologies and rhetoric. These puzzles include the proximity of reactionaries to conservatism, the ambiguity of their nostalgia, the myth of their essential charisma, and the apparent fetishisation of facts. The Ideology of Political Reactionaries ought to interest anyone concerned about current ideological trends and, in particular, students and scholars of politics and history.

Keeping Things Close: Essays on the Conservative Disposition
Keeping Things Close: Essays on the Conservative Disposition

Author: Peter King

Publisher: Arktos

Published: 2015-06-11

Total Pages: 110

ISBN-13: 1910524425

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We do not love what we do not know. We love what is close to us – the people, objects and memories – and do so because they matter most to us. We trust the things that are familiar and seek to nurture and protect them. Our lives are habitual, based on routine. They have meaning because of regularity, the continuity of known faces, and the ability to exclude others. We depend on a few others who we are committed to, and who are committed to us. We wish to include them in our lives, to be included by them, and to do this we have to be able to exclude others. This book presents a particular vision of conservatism: one that is primarily concerned with just carrying on, for continuing as we are. Most of us, most of the time, live quiet and ordinary lives, and are quite happy that we do. We do not experience great upheaval or flux, nor do we wish to. We do not relish unpredictability and when it does come we hope it is the exception rather than the rule. Likewise, we are not habitual rule-breakers. We are happy to play the game by the rules. We simply want to lead our lives, care for our loved ones, and be able to set our own goals. The essays in this book show how we are able to make sense of a complex world consisting largely of strangers, who, being already preoccupied with their own matters, have little time for us. And the fact that they generally ignore us makes our lives possible. We are nurtured by those things we are able to keep close.

The Evolution of Economic Wellbeing
The Evolution of Economic Wellbeing

Author: Zuhayr Mikdashi

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-12-19

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 0429949707

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Throughout history, humans have sought to enhance their wellbeing across various domains. Though the spectrum of factors responsible for wellbeing has widened considerably and advances have been realized in scientific-technological fields, significant failures have been encountered in establishing peaceful relations among various communities, and the natural environment has been degraded inconsiderately by humans since the Industrial Revolution. This book identifies the key factors that influence changes in wellbeing – both positively and negatively – within a framework of socio-economic globalization, instantaneous interconnectedness, and rising environmental risks. These 'clusters of progress' comprise essentially the following seven areas: bolstering peace and security; respecting universal fundamental values; satisfying personal and social basic needs; expanding knowledge and managerial-technological skills; promoting arts and culture; husbanding natural resources and protecting the environment; and concerting actions for the global common good. The term 'progress' is used here to mean an all-embracing sustainable advancement towards desirable goals (be they material or non-material), offering higher levels of wellbeing to individuals and to society at large, compared to previous or current conditions. In unravelling the 'progress conundrum', the author draws on his own original research and field work experiences which dovetail with those of other scholars by complementing their findings and/or by offering different appraisals. The author adopts an inter-disciplinary approach that overcomes the 'silo-like compartmentalization' of fields of study. The said approach enables us to reach a better understanding of the complex reality of progress (or regression) in various domains.

Makers of Democracy
Makers of Democracy

Author: A. Ricardo López-Pedreros

Publisher: Duke University Press

Published: 2019-03-28

Total Pages: 211

ISBN-13: 1478003294

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In Makers of Democracy A. Ricardo López-Pedreros traces the ways in which a thriving middle class was understood to be a foundational marker of democracy in Colombia during the second half of the twentieth century. Drawing on a wide array of sources ranging from training manuals and oral histories to school and business archives, López-Pedreros shows how the Colombian middle class created a model of democracy based on free-market ideologies, private property rights, material inequality, and an emphasis on a masculine work culture. This model, which naturalized class and gender hierarchies, provided the groundwork for Colombia's later adoption of neoliberalism and inspired the emergence of alternate models of democracy and social hierarchies in the 1960s and 1970s that helped foment political radicalization. By highlighting the contested relationships between class, gender, economics, and politics, López-Pedreros theorizes democracy as a historically unstable practice that exacerbated multiple forms of domination, thereby prompting a rethinking of the formation of democracies throughout the Americas.