Michael Millerman is the author of Beginning with Heidegger: Strauss, Rorty, Derrida, Dugin and the Philosophical Constitution of the Political. He’s also is one of the most interesting minds in the sphere of philosophy right now. Millerman is not afraid of grappling with controversial ideas and thinkers, and after surviving cancellation in academia, he started his own school for the study of philosophy and politics.
Why should we care about philosophy when it seems history is being carried on the backs of the unphilosophical? That is not a term of derision; philosophical “inquiry” is too often unrepentant navel-gazing, the luxury of an unproductive and spiteful class. Mothers and fathers at school board meetings across the country are not arguing over the meaning of “the good, the true, and the beautiful.” They are fighting for their blood and their homes—their children and their communities. They are leading what Russian political theorist Aleksandr Dugin calls the “Great Awakening.” Dugin writes:
The Great Awakening is not about elites and intellectuals, but about the people, about the masses, about people as such. And the awakening in question is not about ideological analysis. It is a spontaneous reaction of the masses, hardly competent in philosophy, who have suddenly realised, like cattle before the slaughterhouse, that their fate has already been decided by their rulers and that there is no more room for people in the future.
Millerman believes that the right kind of philosophical approach can help us understand and defend these and like political efforts by the alienated denizens of the West as they fight for a new order. A key and long-neglected thinker for Millerman on this question is Martin Heidegger. We discuss all this and more.
Be sure to follow him on Twitter, check out the Millerman School for a free trial of his courses, and buy his book.
Below is a free preview of our talk on SoundCloud.
Listen to this episode with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Contra to listen to this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.
