The Right-Wing Mirror of Critical Theory
Studies of Schmitt, Oakeshott, Hayek, Strauss, and Rand
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published:22nd Aug '23
£81.00
Supplier delay - available to order, but may take longer than usual.
What really separates emancipatory thinking from its opposite? The prevailing Left defines itself against neoliberalism, conservative traditionalism, and fascism as a matter of course, but are the philosophical differences more apparent than real? The Right-Wing Mirror of Critical Theory: Studies of Schmitt, Oakeshott, Hayek, Strauss, and Rand argues that dominant trends in critical and radical theory inadvertently reproduce the cardinal tenets of the twentieth century’s most influential Right-wing philosophers. It finds the rejection of foundationalism, rationalism, economic planning, and vanguardism mirrored in the work of Schmitt, Oakeshott, Hayek, and Strauss. Larry Alan Busk suggests that this is more than just an unfortunate coincidence. Once the ideal of “the rational society” is abandoned, the Right is able to offer intelligible and compelling arguments for its political conclusions, whereas the Left has no corresponding case to make for its positions on either economic or “cultural” issues. If it is to be more than merely an inverted image of the Right, critical theory must reevaluate its relationship to what Julius Nyerere once called “deliberate design” in politics. In the era of anthropogenic climate change, a substantial—not merely nominal—departure from Right-wing talking points is all the more necessary and momentous.
Larry Busk's The Right Wing Mirror of Critical Theory is a book many of us have been waiting for. Functioning also as a trenchant critique of right wing philosophy, the book's main contribution is patiently showing how the trendy forms of "anti-foundationalism" and "anti-rationalism," which have long dominated left-critical theory, echo the reactionaries' cry. Funny, lucid, and above all brave, The Right Wing Mirror of Critical Theory calls on progressives to remember we can remake the world anew, and better. -- Matt McManus, University of Michigan, author of The Political Right and Equality (Routledge 2023)
With his signature acumen, Busk critically engages with the arguments of some of the most influential rightwing thinkers of the contemporary world. His objective is not simply to show that they are incorrect, but—more importantly—to demonstrate the necessity of a coherent and systemic left politics that embraces, unlike much of the Western left intelligentsia, the need for a self-consciously constructed and rationally planned socio-political project of emancipation. This is an urgent call to critically dismantle the right while reinventing the left! -- Gabriel Rockhill, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Villanova University
Larry Busk’s most recent book can be counted as an important, if unsettling intervention... The Right-Wing Mirror of Critical Theory is a welcome challenge to widespread theoretical beliefs. * Contemporary Political Theory *
Busk’s analysis of right-wing thought is always illuminating and fresh, and is a welcome contribution to the growing array of sophisticated left-wing interpretations of the right. * Marx and Philosophy Review of Books *
This book could not be timelier, nor the questions it raises for the Left, more vital. * New Political Science *
ISBN: 9781666929638
Dimensions: 236mm x 158mm x 20mm
Weight: 522g
276 pages