Fascism

By Eatwell, Roger

‘Fascism’ is a term referring both to a political ideology and to a concrete set of political movements and regimes. Its most prominent examples were the Italian and ...

Totalitarianism

By Canovan, Margaret

A term adopted in the 1920s by the Italian philosopher Giovanni Gentile to describe the ideal fascist state, ‘totalitarianism’ quickly acquired negative connotations as it was applied to ...

Gramsci, Antonio (1891–1937)

By Bellamy, Richard

An Italian Marxist theorist and activist, Gramsci’s main contribution lies in his critique of dialectical materialism. This school treated both the power of the bourgeois state and the ...

Croce, Benedetto (1866–1952)

By Bellamy, Richard

The leading Italian philosopher of his day, Croce presented his philosophy as a humanist alternative to the consolations of religion. A Hegelian idealist, he argued that all human ...

Gentile, Giovanni (1875–1944)

By Bellamy, Richard

Best known as the self-styled philosopher of Fascism, Gentile, along with Benedetto Croce, was responsible for the ascendance of Hegelian idealism in Italy during the first half of ...

Frankfurt School

By Honneth, Axel
Translated by Thomson, Bridget; Bull, Michael

The origins of the circle of philosophers and social scientists now known as the Frankfurt School lie in the 1920s when a number of critics and intellectuals were ...

Bloch, Ernst Simon (1885–1977)

By Geoghegan, Vincent

Bloch was one of the most innovative Marxist philosophers of the twentieth century. His metaphysical and ontological concerns, combined with a self-conscious utopianism, distanced him from much mainstream ...

Nietzsche: impact on Russian thought

By Rosenthal, Bernice Glatzer

Nietzsche’s thought had a massive influence on Russian literature and the arts, religious philosophy and political culture. His popularizers were writers, artists and political radicals who read his ...

Deleuze, Gilles (1925–95)

By Olkowski, Dorothea E.

Although grounded in the history of philosophy, Gilles Deleuze’s work does not begin with first principles but grasps the philosophical terrain ‘in the middle’. This method overthrows subject–object ...

Adorno, Theodor Wiesengrund (1903–69)

By Bernstein, J.M.

Philosopher, musicologist and social theorist, Theodor Adorno was the philosophical architect of the first generation of Critical Theory emanating from the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt, Germany. ...

Cioran, Emil (1911–95)

By Partenie, Catalin D.

Emil Cioran published during his lifetime sixteen books, the first six in his native Romanian, the other ten in French. He was awarded many literary prizes (including Rivarol, ...

Islamic fundamentalism

By Choueiri, Youssef

The philosophical roots of Islamic fundamentalism are largely the result of a conscious attempt to revive and restate the theoretical relevance of Islam in the modern world. The ...

Nation and nationalism

By Miller, David

No one observing political events in the world today could deny the continuing potency of nationalism. Many of the most intractable conflicts arise when one national community tries ...

Nation and nationalism

No one observing political events in the world today could deny the continuing potency of nationalism. Many of the most intractable conflicts arise when one national community tries ...

Political philosophy

By Miller, David

Political philosophy can be defined as philosophical reflection on how best to arrange our collective life - our political institutions and our social practices, such as our economic ...

Deleuze, Gilles (1925–95)

Although grounded in the history of philosophy, Gilles Deleuze’s work does not begin with first principles but grasps the philosophical terrain in the middle. This method overthrows subject–object ...

Modernism

By Ross, Stephen

The term modernism denotes an explosion of aesthetic innovation in Europe, Britain, Ireland and America from roughly 1880 to 1950. It embraces a hugely diverse group of works ...

Adorno, Theodor Wiesengrund (1903–69)

Philosopher, musicologist and social theorist, Theodor Adorno was the philosophical architect of the first generation of Critical Theory emanating from the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt, Germany. ...

Environmental ethics

By Brennan, Andrew

Theories of ethics try to answer the question, ‘How ought we to live?’. An environmental ethic refers to our natural surroundings in giving the answer. It may claim ...

Existentialist ethics

By Cooper, David E.

Central to existentialism is a radical doctrine of individual freedom and responsibility. On the basis of this, writers such as Sartre have offered an account of the nature ...

Habermas, Jürgen (1929–)

By Baynes, Kenneth

Jürgen Habermas, German philosopher and social theorist, is perhaps best known for his wide-ranging defence of the modern public sphere and its related ideals of publicity and free ...

Italy, philosophy in

By Chiurazzi, Gaetano
Translated by Gannon, Anna

Since the Renaissance, Italian philosophy has been rooted in the humanist and historical tradition, stemming from the rediscovery of Greek philosophy in the fifteenth century and the resumption ...

Maruyama Masao (1914–96)

By Kersten, Rikki

Maruyama Masao was a political philosopher and scientist, and a pioneering historian of Japanese political thought. He provoked fierce controversy among his peers, analysing subjects such as war ...

Ideology

By Freeden, Michael

An ideology is a set of ideas, beliefs and attitudes, consciously or unconsciously held, which reflects or shapes understandings or misconceptions of the social and political world. It ...

Scheler, Max (1874–1928)

Max Scheler (1874–1928) was an early and greatly influential pioneer in the development of the phenomenological tradition at the outset of the twenty-first century. Examined most extensively in ...