The essays in this volume explore some of the disconcerting realities of fanaticism, by analyzing its unique dynamics, and considering how it can be productively confronted. The book features both analytic and continental philosophical approaches to fanaticism.
Working at the intersections of epistemology, philosophy of emotions, political philosophy, and philosophy of religion, the contributors address a range of questions related to this increasingly relevant, yet widely neglected topic. What are the distinctive features of fanaticism? What are its causes, motivations, and reasons? In what ways, if at all, is fanaticism epistemically, ethically, and politically problematic? And how can fanaticism be combatted or curtailed?
The Philosophy of Fanaticism will be of interest to scholars and advanced students working in epistemology, philosophy of religion, philosophy of emotions, moral psychology, and political philosophy.
Chapter 1. Introduction to the Philosophy of Fanaticism Ruth Rebecca Tietjen and Leo Townsend Part I. The Epistemic Dimension Chapter 2. Fanaticism: For and Against Quassim Cassam Chapter 3. Can Changing Our Minds Make Us Fanatic? Belief Revision and Epistemic Overconfidence Aljoša Kravanja Chapter 4. Fanaticism, Dogmatism, and Collective Belief Leo Townsend Chapter 5. The Epistemology of Fanaticism: Echo Chambers and Fanaticism Hana Samaržija Chapter 6. Hermeneutical Justice for Extremists? Trystan S. Goetze and Charlie Crerar Part II. The Affective Dimension Chapter 7. On the Social Constitution of Fanatical Feelings Ruth Rebecca Tietjen Chapter 8. Affective Dynamics in Fanaticism: Positive Emotions, Indignation, Contempt, and Hatred Hilge Landweer Chapter 9. Group Fanaticism and Narratives of Ressentiment Paul Katsafanas Chapter 10. Sacralizing Hostility: Fanaticism as a Group-Based Affective Mechanism Thomas Szanto Chapter 11. Second-order Reactive Attitudes toward Fanaticism Anne Reichold Part III. The Political Dimension Chapter 12. The fanatical view of Self and Others in martyrdom and Jihad: The European Jihadi Agent as a Modern Scapegoat Farhad Khosrokhavar Chapter 13. Purges, Big and Small: On Violence, Faith, and Fanaticism Hans Bernhard Schmid Chapter 14. The Pacification of Fanaticism? Jaspers, Unconditional Action, and Nihilism Jason W. Alvis Chapter 15. Fanaticism and Liberalism Frank Chouraqui Chapter 16. The Fanatical Underpinning of Managerial Subjectivity: a Psycho-theological Journey into some Archives Paul Slama
Leo Townsend is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Vienna and the principal investigator of a project on group speech and group silencing, funded by the Austrian Science Fund. He works on social epistemology, collective intentionality and speech theory. Ruth Rebecca Tietjen is a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Subjectivity Research at the University of Copenhagen and works on a project on antagonistic political emotions, funded by the Austrian Science Fund. She is working on political and existential phenomena such as religious zeal, fanaticism, populism, loneliness, and melancholia. Hans Bernhard Schmid is a professor of Political and Social Philosophy at the University of Vienna. His most recent book is Evil in Joint Action: The Ethics of Hate and the Sociology of Original Sin (Routledge, 2020). Michael Staudigl works as a senior lecturer and researcher at the philosophy department, University of Vienna, and scientific associate at the Research centre for religion and transformation (RaT). Between 2003 and 2010 he was visiting fellow at IWM, Vienna. Among his most important publications is Phänomenologie der Gewalt (2015).
