Fanaticism: The Uses of an Idea - Couverture rigide

Toscano, Alberto

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 184467424X ISBN 13 : 9781844674244

Editeur : Verso Books, 2010

Synopsis

Fanaticism Fanaticism is usually seen as a deviant or extreme variant of an already irrational set of religious beliefs. This book explores the critical role fanaticism played in forming modern politics and the liberal state, and undermines the idea that liberalism and fanaticism are irrevocably opposed. Full description

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

The idea of fanaticism as a deviant or extreme variant of an already irrational set of religious beliefs is today invoked by the West in order to demonize and psychologize any non-liberal politics. Alberto Toscano’s compelling and erudite counter-history explodes this accepted interpretation in exploring the critical role fanaticism played in forming modern politics and the liberal state. Tracing its development from the traumatic Peasants’ War of early sixteenth-century Germany to contemporary Islamism, Toscano tears apart the sterile opposition of ‘reasonableness’ and fanaticism. Instead, in a radical new interpretation, he places the fanatic at the very heart of politics, arguing that historical and revolutionary transformations require a new understanding of his role. Showing how fanaticism results from the failure to formulate an adequate emancipatory politics, this illuminating history sheds new light on an idea that continues to dominate debates about faith and secularism.

Revue de presse

“Succinct yet expansively allusive in scope, dense yet highly readable, Fanaticism is a multi-levelled investigation into the role that the idea of the fanatic has played in political discourse.”
—Mark Fisher, Frieze

“A tour de force in every sense—Toscano wipes the smug smiles off the self-righteous faces of the New Philosophers.”
—Mike Davis, author of Planet of Slums

“Gets the synapses firing ... The book has brio, it is bolstered by wide-ranging scholarship and it will make you re-examine one of the most dangerous words in the political lexicon.”
—Catholic Herald

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Verso Books
• Date d'édition: 2010
• ISBN 10: 184467424X
• ISBN 13: 9781844674244
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 304