Francis Fukayama spoke for many intellectuals in the West during the 1990s when he declared that history was at its end. The reference was a Hegelian one, and the implication was that, at least for the foreseeable future, what we now call neo-liberalism would be the de facto norm in global politics. Gone were its old rivals, Communism and Fascism. Liberal Democracy with an accent on global free trade policies seemed to reign triumphant. Oh, maybe some disenchanted leftists in Seattle and Europe would groan and protest against the WTO and the Washington Consensus generally. Perhaps, also, some "isolationists" (including the Buchanan-esque"Paleoconservatives" that voted Trump recently) might resist economic and military expansion of organizations and blocs like NATO and the EU that were then offering coveted membership status to former Warsaw Pact and even former Soviet states (e.g. Georgia, Ukraine). Likewise, they might resent and vilify trade blocs like NAFTA which were sold on the promise of increased prosperity from Canada to Yucatan. Even esteemed Cold War architect George Kennan was ignored when he warned that the eastward expansion of NATO was a mistake that would backfire, and that speaking of Georgia as part of "Europe" when it is actually much closer to Persia made little sense. But back in the "roaring 90s" there was great confidence among Western elites that free market fundamentalism and liberal democracy were essentially joined at the hip, and were now the best or only viable game in town. It was only natural for the institutions and policies I mention here to take their course, or so went the conventional wisdom. A corollary to such views was (and too often still is) that Liberalism and Global Capitalism do not stand in need of a philosophical articulation or defense. The system which is the heir apparent requires no special theory; the age of ideologies had come to a close.
It is well known that Fukayama has long since retracted these ideas. Almost 30 years later, history looks quite different. We now see it through the toxic haze of the 2008 global financial meltdown, the increasing awareness of China's rise to prominence (something deemed intolerable by our leaders), the dramatic changes in domestic and international policies within Russia at least since the annexation of the Crimea, and now the rise of right wing ethno-nationalist movements in Europe and the US-- movements that had more than a little to do with the electing of Donald Trump in the US and Brexit in the UK. Elsewhere on this channel, I've discussed the rise of European ethno-nationalist and populist parties fueled by the refugee crisis and flagging economic health of the EU. Here the point is that philosophy is returning to the world stage as a means of articulating, unifying, and legitimizing movements that oppose the status quo ante. A multi-polar world was not part of the plan, and now it appears not only multi-polar, but in some cases hostile to Liberal Democracy and globalization as conceived by Western elites.
In China, over the past 15 years, there has been a growing State interest in revitalizing Confucianism for the needs of a rising 21st century China. This is an interesting development supported vigorously by China's President Xi Jinping. That topic deserves its own post here in the future. I flag it here to illustrate the point that powerful nation-states that do not entirely buy into the Washington Consensus are currently developing political self-consciousness, which means philosophical underpinnings. Confucianism was part of the glue that held China together politically and ideologically for centuries, and it may be repurposed at the official level in the near future since the nominal status of China as "Communist" is neither accurate nor credible, and lacks motivational sweep for Chinese citizens today. The stale phrase of art , "Socialism with Chinese Characteristics" coined by Deng Xiaoping is just as clumsy and misleading. It also sits uneasily with another of his phrases, viz., " To be rich is glorious."
Similarly, Russia after the Cold War has had a difficult time articulating a political theory and ideology appropriate to the goals and policies of its leaders, and the beliefs of its citizens. Indeed there has not been widespread agreement among Russians regarding such goals and ideas until rather recently. But this decade has witnessed a seismic shift in ideological and political consciousness there from a state of internal disagreement and contestation to a widespread coalescing mindset which looks back to the Soviet Union and the Russian Empire (and affiliated institutions including the Orthodox Church) for political and cultural energy going forward, i.e. what is often simply called "Putinism.". Even Stalin has been rehabilitated to some extent, and Putin and the media never miss an opportunity to take a swipe at the "perversions" of Western Liberalism both culturally and politically. Often these "perversions" are homosexuality, transgender and LGBT movements which are not tolerated in Russia.
If one were to search for a philosophy that articulates and legitimates those trends in Russia (and ethno-nationalist movements in Europe which are often fond of Putin's Russia) they would find one Alexander Dugin, the philosopher somewhat comically called "Putin's Brain" and "Putin's Rasputin" by Western Policy analysts https://www.foreignaffairs.... and https://www.centerforsecuri... . If you follow BigThink you may know his name as that of "the most dangerous philosopher in the world" http://bigthink.com/paul-ra... . Philosophy and psychology correspondent, Olivia Goldhill writes of Dugin that "with his pointed beard and imperialist philosophy, [he] would likely be
dismissed as too over-the-top to play a convincing Bond villain." While such language is, I think, hyperbolic, and I don't think we have an evil genius on the loose here, Dugin certainly is influential and well connected to various politicians, allegedly Putin's "favorite philosopher," and is one of the only intellectuals I know of who is under US and Canadian economic sanctions as an individual as well as leader of the group Eurasian Youth Union. https://en.wikipedia.org/wi... He played a visible role during the annexation of Crimea which marked a turning point in Russian nationalism and Putinism, both of which are linked in the official propaganda of Russia. Many of Putin's speeches about traditional values, the perversity of Western Liberalism (often exemplified by rants against homosexuality and the transgender movement) and barely concealed statements of Russian expansionist ambitions-- i.e. incorporating all the former Soviet States as a regional bloc to start, and perhaps later part of a greater Russia. Like Putin, Dugin was all in for Trump and was given prime time media slots to sing the praises of Trump as "an ordinary American who represents the real America." The real America, for Dugin, is something out of a John Ford Western in which we meet "self-reliant" individuals who neither want nor need the overweening state and its programs. These Americans are good and simple, if "without any special talents." You can get a sense of this by watching this RU clip, "In Trump We Trust" from the 2016 electoral season directly below this post.
If he is speaking to the masses colloquially in this clip , don't be deceived into thinking Dugin a plain-spoken man. He peddles quasi-occultist, metaphysical philosophy fused with an anti-modern, Luddite, pro -"Russian Fascist," global politics that envisions Russia as a Eurasian Empire whose ethos is that of what he calls the "New Middle Ages." Perhaps his most important book is called The Fourth Political Theory (fourth after the allegedly failed 3 theories of Liberal Democracy, Communism and European Fascism of the 20th century). Dugin maintains a website devoted to the exposition and development of this emergent ideology, http://www.4pt.su/en , and there is a reasonably informed discussion about that ideology by foreign affairs journalist Doug Sanders here: https://www.theglobeandmail... Saunders wonders whether Putin really believes much of Dugin's discourse or rather appropriates it as propaganda. https://www.theglobeandmail... I suspect the answer lies in the middle somewhere, and that Putin has found in Dugin someone whose views overlap with some of his own. I do not know how sincere Putin's embrace of religion is, and I doubt he knows much about (or cares much) about Dugin's main influences, viz. Heidegger, Rene Guenon's mystical "traditionalism," Neo-Platonism, Hermeticism, Old Believer Russian Orthodoxy (prior to changes in creed made in the 17th century) and "real socialism" in which all individuals are as cells in the body politic, and not "autonomous" as the Liberalism he so loathes. The individual is likened to a body part ("arms and legs") which are needed for the health and function of the body but not to be confused with it. In philosophy this is called the "organismic analogy" and is found often in Statist ideologies.The body is the "people" whose manifestation is geo-political-- and in the case of Dugin's Russia it will take the form of an anti-modern, Eurasian superpower which is an effective counterweight to "Atlanticism" (West Europe, US and Canada) After all, the Atlantic Powers are all products of a "perverse" civilization, what with secularism, alleged nihilism, homosexuality and excessive individualism afoot. Apparently some right wing neo-fascists such as Golden Dawn have also found inspiration in Dugin's book, The Fourth Political Theory http://www.grreporter.info/... Much of European "Third Position" neo-fascist thought has indeed been influenced in part by Dugin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wi...
I hasten to add, as someone who spent too many years working on Heidegger's philosophy in grad school, that Dugin's version of Heideggerian ontology-- which he credits as his primary influence-- is completely distorted. Heidegger had no patience for the occult, railed against all post-Platonic metaphysics and theology ("ontotheology), and his warnings about technology were not nearly as phobic as Dugin's. Indeed, one of Dugin's lectures has the title, "Why God Hates The Internet" betraying his very non-Heidegarrian blend of theology, politics and fierce anti-technological fervor (he endorses a total ban on the internet). Not only is technology evil, but those who don't support Putin in Russia are, he says, "mentally ill." I'm sure these maligned Russians will have even less hope if the internet ever is really banned there!
Dugin's philosophy is wildly syncretic, combining elements of things one would not usually associate (e.g. Stalinism and the Pagan Occultism of Hermes Trismegistus). But fascist ideologies often have such arcane undercurrents, and seldom do the masses tune into all the esoterica, focusing instead on the political and nationalistic parts without the metaphysics. For example, one aspect of German Fascism Dugin admires is Himmler's mystical/occult project, Ahnerbe, which fused the search for the origins of the "Aryan Race" with all sorts of occultism and pseudo-science. The Germans even funded an expedition to Tibet, and claimed that the historical Buddha might have been an "Aryan offshoot of the Nordic Race" as discussed in Christopher Hale's book Himmler's Crusade. Cranial measurements of Tibetans were done, Mandalas and Buddhist scriptures brought back to Germany and housed in the Anherbe Library. Mystification and authoritarian doctrines are often wedded, since more rational grounds for demanding total surrender of individuality to the corporate body politic in the modern west are in short supply. And so it is with Dugin's labyrinthine trail of books, lectures and interviews. To illustrate, here is a typical quotation of Dugin discussing Heidegger in connection with-- of all things-- Eurasianism from an interview. He is trying here to "clarify" one of the central themes in one of his books on Heidegger called The Philosophy of Another Beginning (Heidegger often spoke of a "second beginning in philosophy"-- the first one having occurred before Plato in Ancient Greece). Here Dugin is answering an interviewer regarding Eurasia as a 'philosophical' concept:
" Eurasia is a philosophical topos... It is first of all a Seynsgeschichtliche reality and only then a geopolitical, political or economical one. So it is for me the land of New Beginning, nowhere land, the na-koja-abad of Persian thinker Suhrawardi. It is the territory for awakening an Ereignis [i.e.an "event" that suddenly comes into view or discernment in late Heidegger works-ed.]. That is the core of my own Seynsgeschichtliche [or] vision of the historic moment. The rebirth of Eurasia is an eschatological and spiritual event. Today, Eurasian people are in a profound existential sleep. But the logic of history put them in front of the dilemma either to awaken or die. That doesn’t depend on will: the will is orientated toward self-destruction. But the turn (Kehre) is always possible. Where there is risk there is salvation as well, as Hölderlin used to say. So I defend the choice of salvation. It is my choice and I hope Russia’s choice. We see signs of possible awakening in Russia through intermediary forms, such as the rejection of liberalism and American hegemony, and the search for identity. The same is true on a lesser scale for other Eurasian peoples. But I am sure the awakeningAll of this might be brushed aside as bad, even humorously bad philosophy if Dugin were not a politically influential thinker who has advised members of the Duma. One wonders if the sudden "event" Dugin would like to see in Eurasia is not only philosophical but military in nature. Let's remember that it was a military event in the Dombass region of Ukraine that sent Putin's ratings through the roof a few years back. Indeed, Dugin was involved directly. He has been praised by Putin; looms large in Russian media; is under US and Canadian sanctions for his role in the invasion of Crimea; and he has a large group of dedicated believers getting their talking points from him. So it may not be all that funny in the end, but I think there is a lesson in all of this.
will come all of a sudden. Being prepared by all human history, it will arrive quite unexpectedly. Such is Ereignis. It can last. It is the rift in the texture of the sleep-time of inauthentic existence." (Source: http://www.4pt.su/en/conten...
As I began by saying, philosophy has until recently provided roadmaps for our understanding of politics, ethics, culture and to some extent the nature of knowledge itself. Many westerners have come to believe that their everyday beliefs, values and the political and economic structures within which they operate are simply the status quo, not the complex and often problematic products of long debates and discourses in philosophy, political economy, ethics and public life. This was not the case during the Cold War, of course, when Liberalism needed its apologists no less than did Bolshevism. There was even a time when reform-minded philosophers were household names (e.g. John Dewey, whose picture graced a US Stamp during his own lifetime). The idea that "it's the economy stupid," (as Bill Clinton put it in the 90s) that deregulated markets and a weakening representative form of government can take care of themselves without deliberate analysis and theory-- this idea has left something of a conceptual and moral vacuum at the center of contemporary politics. Elsewhere I have discussed the trend away from democracy supported by some empirical research in that area: https://disqus.com/home/dis... But here I emphasize that not only must we not take our system of government, policies, goals and values for granted (which leaves them in the hands of detached elites); but we must unlearn the myth that Secular Liberal Democracy *is* the global future, and realize that geopolitically and ideologically speaking, the grass is growing beneath our feet. That is, new philosophical and ideological constellations are coming into being, whether they be Modern Chinese Confucianism, Right Wing Ethno-Nationalism at home and in Europe or the new, anti-modern, anti-liberal, occult-lathed Russian/Eurasian fascism of Alexander Dugin. Meanwhile, the US population is understandably unsure of just where the country and government are going in the age of Trump. While Americans are soul-searching and questioning their future at home and as a global power, other great powers like Russia and China are beginning to articulate new political visions in their own post-Communist phases. - (Original Post from 2017)
Question: Do you think political philosophy is important in the present and future? Can it be "replaced" by other fields such as economics and the sciences?
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