This seminar bridges political philosophy and political science and roots out the intellectual precursors of today’s illiberal wave. It discusses how non-humanist philosophers like Martin Heidegger, Carl Schmitt, and Alexander Dugin became referential names for the transatlantic New Right and for certain non-liberal governments. Concepts such as the Being, the notion of the existential enemy, and the geopoliticization of identity are now dominant frames in the burgeoning far-right, illiberal, and authoritarian world. This seminar invites a critical re-examination of the relationship between philosophy and ideology.

2:48 Harrison Fluss – The Hidden King of Thought or the Emperor with No Clothes? Heidegger and the Crisis of Philosophy 22:35 Emmanuel Faye – Carl Schmitt’s legacy: Some remarks on the German historian Reinhart Koselleck 41:00 Jiantao Liu – Carl Schmitt, Liu Xiaofeng and the Longevity of Chinese Empire: A Reflection on an Academic-political Reality in China 58:07 Ronald Beiner – Alexander Dugin: Philosopher or Ideologue? 1:17:22 Discussion and Q&A  __ The Illiberalism Studies Program (ILLSP) studies the different faces of illiberal politics and thought in today’s world, taking into account the diversity of their cultural context, their intellectual genealogy, the sociology of their popular support, and their implications on the international scene.