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Fanaticism

On the Uses of an Idea

Alberto Toscano

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Paperback

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English
Verso
01 November 2017
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.

By:  
Imprint:   Verso
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 210mm,  Width: 140mm,  Spine: 28mm
Weight:   441g
ISBN:   9781786630544
ISBN 10:   1786630540
Pages:   304
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Alberto Toscano is Reader in Critical Theory and Co-Director of the Centre for Philosophy and Critical Theory at Goldsmiths University, London. He is the author of The Theatre of Production: Philosophy and Individuation Between Kant and Deleuze, and (with Jeff Kinkle) Cartographies of the Absolute. He edited The Italian Difference: Between Nihilism and Biopolitics with Lorenzo Chiesa, and has translated several works by Alain Badiou, as well as Antonio Negri, Furio Jesi and Franco Fortini. He is on the editorial board of the journal Historical Materialism, and is series editor of The Italian List for Seagull Books.

Reviews for Fanaticism: On the Uses of an Idea

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 By the end he has at irrefutably demolished our lazy opposition between rational-moderate liberalism and fanatical religion; while his sorrowful comparison of modern blowhards with the great reactionaries of yesterday is a slyly humorous touch. -- Steven Poole * The Guardian *


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