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University of Pennsylvania Press Dangerous Minds by Ronald Beiner
Following the fall of the Berlin Wall and demise of the Soviet Union prominent Western thinkers began to suggest that liberal democracy had triumphed decisively on the world stage. Having banished fascism in World War II liberalism had now buried communism and the result would be an end of major ideological conflicts as liberal norms and institutions spread to every corner of the globe. With the Brexit vote in Great Britain the resurgence of rightwing populist parties across the European continent and the surprising ascent of Donald Trump to the American presidency such hopes have begun to seem hopelessly naive. The far right is back and serious rethinking is in order.In Dangerous Minds Ronald Beiner traces the deepest philosophical roots of such rightwing ideologues as Richard Spencer Aleksandr Dugin and Steve Bannon to the writings of Nietzsche and Heideggerand specifically to the aspects of their thought that express revulsion for the liberaldemocratic view of life. Beiner contends that Nietzsches hatred and critique of bourgeois egalitarian societies has engendered new disciples on the populist right who threaten to overturn the modern liberal consensus. Heidegger no less than Nietzsche thoroughly rejected the moral and political values that arose during the Enlightenment and came to power in the wake of the French Revolution. Understanding Heideggerian dissatisfaction with modernity and how it functions as a philosophical magnet for those most profoundly alienated from the reigning liberaldemocratic order Beiner argues will give us insight into the recent and unexpected return of the far right.Beiner does not deny that Nietzsche and Heidegger are important thinkers; nor does he seek to expel them from the history of philosophy. But he does advocate that we rigorously engage with their influential thought in light of current eventsand he suggests that we place their severe critique of modern liberal ideals at the center of this engagement.show more