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Otruba Dissertation Revised Nov 2014 ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: A TALE OF TWO MODERNITIES: A LIBERAL ALTERNATIVE TO A LIBERAL MODERNITY FROM VICO TO HAVEL Alexander P. Otruba, Doctor of Philosophy, 2014 Dissertation directed by: Professor Vladimir Tismaneanu Department of Government & Politics The resurgence of the political theory of Marx, Lenin and even Communism itself is increasingly seen in left political theory as the only means of successfully mobilizing the “energy and rage” of the people against capitalism in the wake of the 2008 economic collapse. It also threatens to draw politics and political theory back into the dangerous territory of twentieth-century illusions. This dissertation—taking its cue from jeffrey isaac's 1995 article in Dissent condemning the “strange silence of political theory” regarding the revolutions of 1989—looks to introduce the political thought of 1989 into contemporary left political theory. The work of Leszek Kolakowski, Adam Michnik, Vaclav Havel and Gyorgy Konrad are representative of a political theory that consciously works to avoid the ideological traps and illusions packaged within modernity's displacement of the authority of the natural world with the Cartesian promise to be able to both know, order, and modify that world. This dissertation places the east and central European dissident theorists of 1989 in conversation with Giambattista Vico—who in his oration On method in contemporary fields of study (1710) recognized the presence of this tension that would undergird modernity—and the Italian antifascist theorists Benedetto Croce, Piero Gobetti and Antonio Gramsci, whom he would later inspire. Through their similar confrontations with modern totalitarian states, both the Italian antifascist theorists and the theorists of 1989 identified within modernity a rupture between “truth”, concrete reality, and humanity itself. A rupture that produced regimes and politics that promised humanity's emancipation from absolutism, while normalizing its subjugation in new and increasingly sophisticated ways. Their revised theoretical approach to modernity sets aside the ideological illusions of the twentieth-century in a compelling manner, and instead offer a principled foundation for the active preservation of democracy and human autonomy. Read collectively they represent more just a critique, but also a sophisticated set of political ideas that answer those who would otherwise approach them as naïve revolutionists or even defenders of the status quo. A TALE OF TWO MODERNITIES: A LIBERAL ALTERNATIVE TO A LIBERAL MODERNITY FROM VICO TO HAVEL by Alexander P. Otruba Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2014 Advisory Committee: Professor Vladimir Tismaneanu, Chair Professor Karol Soltan Professor Fred Alford Professor Ian Ward © Copyright by Alexander P. Otruba 2014 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation represents the end of what was a long and proverbially winding road and there are far too many people who are owed a hearty share of my gratitude for making it all possible. You all know who you are. I would like to extend an extra thank you to my committee chair Professor Vladimir Tismaneanu. This dissertation is very much a product of work begun in various of his seminars and with many ideas tested both in the classroom as well as over coffee. More than just my committee chair, I suspect the influence of his eclectic approach to politics will be felt throughout this dissertation. I would also like to thank Professor Karol Soltan, without whom this dissertation would have struggled to get of the ground as well as it did. The months spent crafting the initial proposal would not have been nearly so successful without the working group he lead. I would also like to thank both Professor Alford and Professor Ward for their constructive feedback and for kindly serving on my committee. It was much appreciated and will prove invaluable moving forward. Many friends contributed to the completion of this dissertation with their persistent support both intellectually and personally. However, Jeremy Janow and Benli Schecter stand out for having always been there to answer the phone during the most difficult stages of my writing. I would also like to thank Edit for all of her support, and especially for her tolerance of both myself as well as of my pile of books and papers, both of which were encamped at her favorite desk for far too long. During these final years of work I also benefited tremendously from the support of Professor James Martel at San Francisco State University. He gave generously of his time and counsel and for that, I remain grateful. Finally, I would like to thank my family and especially my parents whose patience and support throughout my studies these many years remained an inexhaustible source of encouragement. Thank you, Ben and Wendy. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments...............................................................................................................ii Introduction.........................................................................................................................1 Chapter 1: The Other Liberalism: the Liberal Philosophy of Giambattista Vico..............32 The Struggle for Modernity..........................................................................................35 Vico and his Critics.......................................................................................................57 Chapter 2: Italian Anti-fascism: Piero Gobetti & the Politics of Liberal Revolution........80 Croce's Critique of “Absolute Idealism”.......................................................................84 Giolitti & the “Politics of Compromise”......................................................................90 The Road to Fascism: “Anti-modernism” & Autobiography in Italy.........................101 Gobetti's Liberalism....................................................................................................115 Chapter 3: Italian Anti-fascism: Antonio Gramsci's “Surprising” Marxism...................130 “New Science”, New Marxism?.................................................................................138 Philosophy As “Soul-Making”....................................................................................162 Closing Gramsci..........................................................................................................176 Chapter 4: The Open (Liberal) Politics of East-European Dissent..................................180 Leszek Kolakowski, “Hope And Hopelessness”........................................................186 Adam Michnik............................................................................................................197 Vaclav Havel, Ideology As The “Juggernaut Of Power”............................................211 I...............................................................................................................................211 II.............................................................................................................................218 III............................................................................................................................228 Gyorgy Konrad, Antipolitics.......................................................................................238 Conclusion.......................................................................................................................248 Bibliography....................................................................................................................260 iii Introduction This dissertation aims to address what Jeffrey Isaac referred to as the “strange silence of political theory” regarding the revolutions of 1989. 1 Political theory, he had argued in 1995, seemed to avoid taking seriously those revolutions that were as much about ideas as they were about governments and politics. Isaac outlines several possible reasons for this, some of which I will address here. But strategically, this is perhaps not surprising. Limiting our understanding of 1989 to localized politics and regime change does a lot to contain their critical power, the object of which was modernity itself, and of which our own western liberal-democracies are an obviously central part. The politics of the day happily enlisted dissident theorists as allies of their cold war strategies and rhetoric, and the political theory that emerged reflected this. Isaac points to a popular attitude by which “the Central European literature of revolt may be historically or politically significant but it is [seen as] not especially innovative or genuinely theoretical....no deep issues are raised or discussed in their writings, and there is thus no reason to incorporate what they have written into our theoretical discussions.” 2 In order to overcome such prejudice theorists like Vladimir Tismaneanu in a 1993 special edition of Partisan Review characterized the dissidents of 1989 as the re-discoverers of “the values of the American Revolution.” 3 However, for Tismaneanu and Isaac dissident contributions extended well beyond the parroting of American liberalism by “interrogating the foundations of the 1 Jeffrey C. Isaac, “The Strange Silence of Political Theory,” Political Theory 23, no. 4 (November 1, 1995): 636–52. 2 Jeffrey C. Isaac, “The Strange Silence of Political Theory,” Political Theory
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