The Philosophical Foundation of Alt-Right Politics and Ressentiment

(Hardback)

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Since its inception, America has laid claim to a liberal democratic style of government with various well-known philosophical tenets. Yet the underlying beliefs or political philosophy of one of the movements that opposes liberal democratic forms of governmentthe alt-rightare relatively unknown. The Philosophical Foundation of Alt-Right Politics and Ressentiment is a timely book that analyses how the principles of current American politics have developed. William Remley asserts that the philosophy of Traditionalism is central to the alt-rights understanding of itself and explores the perceived threat to social status that seems to have propelled the movement to its prominent place in American politics. Remley uses Social Dominance Theory and the philosophical work of Jean-Paul Sartre and Friedrich Nietzsche to look at how group formation and hierarchies have given rise to authoritarian leadership and how a tendency that can be best described and explained through Nietzsches concept of ressentiment led to the anti-foreign sentiment that rules American politics today.

Reviews

Remley invites us to critically analyze the intellectual roots of contemporary Right-wing politics, a task both badly needed and woefully neglected in political theory today. Tracing a dark philosophical lineage from Gunon to Evola to Bannon, this book gives an account of some of the key ideas animating our present political landscape. -- Larry Alan Busk, California State University, Stanislaus

Author Bio

William Remley is Lecturer in Philosophy at Saint Peter's University, Jersey City, New Jersey.