Black Mass: Apocalyptic Religion and the Death of Utopia
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| - | '''John Nicholas Gray''' (born 17 April 1948) is an English [[political philosopher]] with interests in [[analytic philosophy]] and the [[history of ideas]]. He retired as School Professor of European Thought at the [[London School of Economics and Political Science]]. Gray contributes regularly to ''[[The Guardian]]'', ''[[The Times Literary Supplement]]'' and the ''[[New Statesman]]'', where he is the lead book reviewer. | + | '''''Black Mass: Apocalyptic Religion and the Death of Utopia''''' is a [[non-fiction]] book by [[John N. Gray]] published in 2007. Gray was at the time the School Professor of European Thought at the [[London School of Economics]] and in the book he further develops his critique of [[social progress]]. In recent history he looks at the [[New Right]] government of [[Margaret Thatcher]] and the [[neoconservatism|neoconservative]] government of [[George W. Bush]]. But he also connects [[totalitarianism]], that is [[communism]] and [[nazism]], with [[millenarianism|millenarianist]] movements in the [[Middle Ages]] with them, citing examples such as that of [[John of Leiden]], who led a rebellion in the German city of [[Münster]] in 1534. In here he is helped by the work of [[Norman Cohn]], ''[[The Pursuit of the Millennium]]''. His main thesis is that the influence of said religious movements created the secular, [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] belief in social progress. And this [[philosophy of history]], known as [[teleology]], has contaminated the contemporary ''isms'', including [[classical liberalism]]. |
| - | Gray has written several influential books, including ''[[False Dawn: The Delusions of Global Capitalism]]'' (1998), which argues that free market globalization is an unstable [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] project currently in the process of disintegration, ''[[Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals]]'' (2003), which attacks philosophical [[humanism]], a worldview which Gray sees as originating in religious ideologies, and ''[[Black Mass: Apocalyptic Religion and the Death of Utopia]]'' (2007), a critique of [[utopian]] thinking in the modern world. Gray sees [[volition (psychology)|volition]], and hence [[morality]], as an illusion, and portrays humanity as a ravenous species engaged in wiping out other forms of life. Gray writes that 'humans ... cannot destroy the Earth, but they can easily wreck the environment that sustains them.' | + | The book is split into six chapters, each of which is around 40 pages and is in turn split into sub-chapters: |
| - | + | # The Death of Utopia | |
| - | He is an atheist. | + | # Enlightenment and Terror in the Twentieth Century |
| + | # Utopia Enters the Mainstream | ||
| + | # The Americanization of the Apocalypse | ||
| + | # Armed Missionaries | ||
| + | # Post-Apocalypse | ||
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Black Mass: Apocalyptic Religion and the Death of Utopia is a non-fiction book by John N. Gray published in 2007. Gray was at the time the School Professor of European Thought at the London School of Economics and in the book he further develops his critique of social progress. In recent history he looks at the New Right government of Margaret Thatcher and the neoconservative government of George W. Bush. But he also connects totalitarianism, that is communism and nazism, with millenarianist movements in the Middle Ages with them, citing examples such as that of John of Leiden, who led a rebellion in the German city of Münster in 1534. In here he is helped by the work of Norman Cohn, The Pursuit of the Millennium. His main thesis is that the influence of said religious movements created the secular, Enlightenment belief in social progress. And this philosophy of history, known as teleology, has contaminated the contemporary isms, including classical liberalism.
The book is split into six chapters, each of which is around 40 pages and is in turn split into sub-chapters:
- The Death of Utopia
- Enlightenment and Terror in the Twentieth Century
- Utopia Enters the Mainstream
- The Americanization of the Apocalypse
- Armed Missionaries
- Post-Apocalypse
