Abstract
What are the links between tragedy, politics and modernity? Diverse currents in social and critical theory have tackled this question; some arguing that modernity has itself a tragic structure insofar as its promises are undermined by their own realisation, others that the diversity of worldviews (the ‘warring Gods’ referred to by Max Weber) has tragic—because un-reconcilable—form. After briefly reviewing some of these issues, the paper looks more specifically at tragic structure in relation to (European) modernity and political reason. The French Terror has unique significance in this context, signalling as it does the failure of any kind of political rationality that seeks to take unmediated, universal form. The consequences of this failure are also, in a way, tragic in so far as they involve contradictions and irresolvable dilemmas of ongoing, everyday political existence. As a result—and perhaps this should itself be seen as much in terms of tragedy as triumphalism—our modernity condemns us to liberalism.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 529-536 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Society |
| Volume | 59 |
| Early online date | 10 Nov 2021 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Oct 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Thanks to Samantha Ashenden and James Brown for their comments and for setting up the symposium on tragedy in relation to social and political thought where this paper originated. The piece was written during a period of research sponsored by the Leverhulme Trust. I also wish to thank Gabriel Osborne for sharing his expertise on these themes with me, and two referees from this journal for their detailed and incisive comments that did much to improve the paper.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).