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The dominant model of democratic politics emphasizes reason at the expense of the passions. Passions have been treated as dangerous, the opposite of reason and the enemy of virtue. Paul Ginsborg and Sergio Labate challenge this model and put forward a very different view, developing an account of modern democratic politics in which both passions and reason play a crucial role.
To do justice to the role of passions in politics, we must pay close attention to the way in which they circulate among us; then we must develop a suitable language to describe them - an 'alphabet of the passions' that enables us to understand how they combine with one another and connect with certain states of mind in order to shape political outcomes. Adopting this approach enables the authors to shed new light on one of the major phenomena of our time - the triumph of neoliberalism on a world scale. Neoliberalism has worked so well because it has incorporated its own romantic and individualist version of the passions into its worldview, seducing both individuals and families with the allure of consumption.
By developing a new model of democratic politics based on the interplay of passions and reason, Ginsborg and Labate provide a much needed framework for understanding the crucial role that passions play in the unfolding of political life. At a time when populist leaders are on the ascendancy and political processes are shaped as much by anger, resentment and fear as they are by reason and argument, this refocusing of political analysis on the role of the passions could not be more timely.
List of contents
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
Boys, Girls and a Dog in Front of Vinca Cemetery 1
The Seductive Power of Neoliberal Passions 4
1. The Debate on Passions 12
The Ancient History of Passions 12
Hobbes, Descartes, Spinoza 15
Passions' Active Function: Feminism 26
Governing and Combining Passions 31
2. Political Romanticism and Neoliberal Romanticism 39
Political Romanticism 39
Consumer Capitalism and Neoliberal Romanticism 44
Mobilising Passions 52
3. Politics and Passions, Today 61
Constitutional Wisdom 61
Machiavellian Monkeys 65
The Dignity of the Politician 75
The double crisis of passions: Representation and participation 82
Conclusions 91
4. Familial Passions and the Passion for the State 95
Familial love 95
Passions for the Family and the Failure of Republican Pedagogy in Italy 107
In reverse 112
Conclusion 117
Postscript 121
Notes 126
Index 143
About the author
Paul Ginsborg is Professor of Contemporary European History at the University of Florence.
Sergio Labate is Professor of Theoretical Philosophy at the University of Macerata.
Summary
The dominant model of democratic politics emphasizes reason at the expense of the passions. Passions have been treated as dangerous, the opposite of reason and the enemy of virtue. Paul Ginsborg and Sergio Labate challenge this model and put forward a very different view, developing an account of modern democratic politics in which both passions and reason play a crucial role.
To do justice to the role of passions in politics, we must pay close attention to the way in which they circulate among us; then we must develop a suitable language to describe them - an 'alphabet of the passions' that enables us to understand how they combine with one another and connect with certain states of mind in order to shape political outcomes. Adopting this approach enables the authors to shed new light on one of the major phenomena of our time - the triumph of neoliberalism on a world scale. Neoliberalism has worked so well because it has incorporated its own romantic and individualist version of the passions into its worldview, seducing both individuals and families with the allure of consumption.
By developing a new model of democratic politics based on the interplay of passions and reason, Ginsborg and Labate provide a much needed framework for understanding the crucial role that passions play in the unfolding of political life. At a time when populist leaders are on the ascendancy and political processes are shaped as much by anger, resentment and fear as they are by reason and argument, this refocusing of political analysis on the role of the passions could not be more timely.
Report
'How should we try to fashion our feelings and imaginations across our lives, so that they equip us best to live well together on the scale we need to, is the oldest and deepest challenge in political and religious thinking. Passions and Politics poses that drastic question bravely once again and offers a fresh answer for the epoch of global neoliberalism.'
John Dunn, King's College, Cambridge
"Optimistic but not reassuring... essential reading for anyone concerned about the media's use of fear and resentment to nudge the political agenda to the right."
Morning Star
