Critical review of international social and political philosophy
Paging:
Volume 9 (2006) nr. 2 pages 263-284
Year:
2006-06-01
Contents:
Through its numerous changes of course, John Gray's political theory has continued to grapple with pessimism - the failure of ideals of human betterment. The movements in Gray's thought - from neo-liberalism to conservatism, and thence via value-pluralism and modus vivendi liberalism to radical anti-humanism - can in each case be understood as responding to failure by attempts to find a new and more modest role for theory. Gray does this by navigating between persistence, the refusal to accept the failure of ideals, and surrendering to their failure by retreating into resignation, which responds to the failure of ideals by the wholesale abandonment of political engagement. I argue that Gray's pessimism continually propels him away from political engagement but that he has found it impossible, even in the anti-humanism of his recent books, to give up entirely on politics. In conclusion I argue that naturalism, which has become ever more significant in his work, can provide a via media between utopianism and despair once we see politics as the arena which determines the ideals which are liveable for us.
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