Overview

What is the 'alt right' or 'alternative right'? Today there is much discussion of a new 'alt right' philosophy, but how new is this movement? And is it very philosophical? It develops that various figures in white nationalist movements are key to the concept of the 'alt right, ' including Richard Spencer, Kevin MacDonald, and Jared Taylor. However, investigation soon makes clear that Spencer stands above all others as central to the movement. But who is this individual, and also then what is the role in the movement of his ex-wife, a Russian Heidegger scholar? Above all else - why has Spencer jumped to the fore of media attention, such that he is now linked with the White House Chief strategist, Steve Bannon? The world of the alt right is a shadowy one, but soon it emerges, something even darker is happening in the newsrooms paid to report upon it, where it is no longer clear whether they have contact with reality or only Nazi illusion. One tries to investigate the alt right but in discussing the alt right, the press makes the main story - itself and its prejudices. The alt right's interest in the philosophy of Husserl and Heidegger provides a Leitfaden for unfolding this disturbing situation, taking us to the inescapable question: do reporter and reader share the same world? Reporters offer their supposed experiences of the alt right, but a phenomenological analysis of this reveals, the phenomena have an uncertain relation to objectivity. Richard Spencer is a man of 'identitarian movements, ' but how can we discover his own identity and potential ties to National Socialist and Klan movements, if the political Right has eliminated objective reporting? Excerpts: As I had [earlier] written a piece suggesting, 'Right-wing' might be an effective label even where 'conservative' is not, naturally I became interested when I was contacted regarding a new 'movement, ' called the 'alt right, ' which apparently had started around 2008. The 'Alt Right, ' 'alternative right, ' or 'alt right, ' was said to be a movement 'on the Right, ' but opposed to neoconservatives, and then too with an uncertain relation to the paleoconservatives. It appeared Right-wing, but not 'conservative' - just the kind of stance I had discussed. The alt right sounded intriguing, philosophical.... Numerous sources spoke highly of the 'alt right, ' including Steve Bannon. I thought it was worth a look. Then too, past friends and students, knowing me as a professor of Philosophy to be a good liberal and humanitarian, were concerned about some of the darker things said to be emerging with this 'alt right' movement, and asked me for information regarding it. There were questions regarding whether Richard Spencer and others involved in the 'alt right movement' believed in the 'human dignity' of which I had spoken in my LewRockwell.com article. Then too there were questions regarding whether 'hate crimes' were being planned out of the movements supposed headquarters, in Whitefish, Montana. So I began to look into this new 'movement.' 'Spencer at the Conservative Political Action Committee We have established, there is testimony regarding Spencer and the annual festival. Let me add, likewise, there is testimony regarding what happened, after he was seen and heard, talking with reporters, and sharing his ideas on a new white nationalism, i.e. a nationalism or assertion of the common interests of whites, with a special focus on overcoming barriers between German and Slav. What is said, is that he was forcefully ejected from the conference.... Had this been a staged event? Why was Spencer at the conference? Why did the media, spend so much time discussing his presence?' 'Old whites, had sold the younger whites down the river. It is a priori.... But still 'white nationalism' a la Spencer, seemed to be raising a few harder points, asking whether ... the balance between Father and Son, had

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Marcus Verhaegh holds a doctorate in Philosophy and has taught Philosophy at several U.S. institutions, including Kent State and Emory University. He is a specialist in German thought. Previous publications include Property by Agreement: Interpreting Kant's Account of Right, British Journal for the History of Philosophy, and Hypothetical and Psychoanalytic Interpretation, Journal of Philosophical Research. Conference appearances include: Kant and Architecture, Society for the Philosophic Study of the Contemporary Visual Arts, Cleveland APA, & Stoicism, Emotion, and Kant's third Critique, Philosophy and Emotion Conference, Manchester University. He was formerly a research fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute in Auburn, AL. 'Politically, I have been very critical of centrism in politics, and have found much both in the utopian Socialists and in figures such as Hans-Hermann Hoppe and Murray Rothbard, though the two extremes here are in many ways opposed. In INVESTIGATING THE ALT RIGHT, however, I take things past political polemic, to also include quite a bit of sociology and then, furthermore, a kind of applied epistemology. Discovering the character of Richard Spencer and other figures on the alt right is certainly the core of the book, but there is also a larger question of whether Spencer might not be involved in something, that keeps us from knowing what is happening with him. Some of my other writing projects deal with egalitarian political movements, e.g. Fabian socialism, and also this central triumvirate of Hegel, Husserl, and Heidegger. Then too the nature of the media and of the capitalist and post-Protestant interests behind it, remain a great interest for me. I live on the West Coast, but luckily have made it out to D.C. quite a few number of times, so I have some idea of why honest people ought to stay away from that place....'

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