Explain why Fascism is described as being "Anti-Intellectual" and "Anti-Rational." (10 Marks)
Break down the question:
Define and Explain:- One reason for supporting this description lies in the roots of the ideology - essentially the voluntaristic idea that the will is prior to and superior to the intellect or reason - Nietzsche's critique of the view that humans act in accordance with reason. Fascists preferred to "think with blood" relying on intuition, action and emotion rather than on reflection and reason, acting from the "heart rather than the head."
- Fascists held the view that rationalism produced a politics based on a government by consent, characterised by constitutionalism and the protection of human rights. Such systems were anathema to fascists, who saw liberal democracies as being weak and without direction
Link 1 - Will to Action
- These stances are also in accordance with the fascist desire for heroic, decisive action in the name of the state, behaviour that could be easily realised through "sloppy" democracies operating via a consensus. Such views are encapsulated in the fascist "will to action."
Link 2 - Liberalism's "failed" approach to the Economy
- Liberalism (a product of rationalism) underpinned capitalism, an economic system that brought about economic depression in the inter-war years which those on the far right also blame for the banking crisis and economic recessions of recent times.
Links to Theorists
- Sorel -"political myths" - e.g. General Strikes as an "expression of the will"
- Bergson - vitalism - give expression to life forces
- "Fascism gave political expression to the most extreme forms of counter-Enlightenment thinking." Heywood
- Mussolini and Hitler were only interested in ideas and theories of power - "to elicit an emotional response and spur the masses into action." therefore emphasised to "politics of the will" (Nietzsche)
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