The Intellectual Revolt Against Liberal Democracy, 1875-1945: International Colloquium in Memory of Jacob L. Talmon

Description

The issues treated in this volume - romanticism vs. rationalism, nationalism vs. pluralism, militarism vs. humanism, religious/moral values vs. tolerance - are as timely today as they were in the period leading up to the rise of Fascism and Nazism in Europe. The volume brings together in an easily accessible form the approaches and methodologies of eighteen scholars, each an internationally renowned expert in his or her field, unafraid to evaluate critically ideological streams that were and remain crucial to the progress of modern history. Contents Preface Modernity and Its Enemies: From the Revolt against the Enlightenment to the Undermining of Democracy Part I: Cultural Pessimism — from the Turn of the Century to the 1930s The Sulking Comer of Europe: Burckhardt's Basel and the Critique of the Modem Intellectuals and Mass Politics in Fin-de-siècle Vienna The 'Anti-Intellectual' Intellectuals as Political Mythmakers The Present as Nightmare: Cultural Pessimism among European Intellectuals in the Period between the Two World Wars Part II: Germany — Antimodern Modernism Reactionary Modernism Reconsidered: Modernity, the West and the Nazis Nietzsche and the German Radical Right, 1914-1933 The Critique of Liberal Democracy in the Works of Oswald Spengler The Radical Conservative Critique of Liberal Democracy in Weimar Germany: Hans Freyer and Carl Schmitt Part III: France — Critique of Liberalism and the Heritage of the French Revolution A Farewell to the Pen Catholic Identity, Universal Suffrage and "Doctrines of Hatred" From the Söhlbergkreis to Vichy's Elite Schools: The Rise of the Personalists* Part IV: Italy — Permanent Crisis of Democracy Weaknesses of the Democratic Tradition in Italy, 1920-1940 Giuseppe Prezzolini and the Quest for a New Italy Part V: Spain, Portugal and Britain — Modernity against Democracy? Loathing of Democracy and Fear of the Masses? José Ortega y Gasset and Liberal Democratic Thought Modernity versus Democracy? The Mystical Nationalism of Fernando Pessoa Right Wings over Britain: T.E. Hulme and the Intellectual Rebellion against Democracy Concluding Remarks at the Close of an Era List of Contributors Index of Names