ENGL 6575

Anti-Liberalisms

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2023-2024.

Critiques of liberalism have been central not only to leftist or radical visions of politics but also to critical theory (whether in literary studies, law, or political theory). Yet opposition to liberalism has also fueled a rightwing or reactionary politics—and in ways increasingly operative today. This Seminar examines the common ground connecting—and points of divergence between—left and right anti-liberalisms over history and into the present. Readings will investigate the frequents components of anti-liberal critique (whether targeted at capitalism, legal positivism, the state, or individualism); recurring alternatives to liberalism (Romanticism, communitarianism, vitalism); and various shared intellectual touchstones (Schmitt, Marcuse, Nietzsche, Marx). What are the guises of anti-liberalism today, and to what extent does such thinking unite both ends of the political spectrum?

When Offered Fall or Spring.

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