The Fate of the Earth and The Abolition

Schell, Jonathan

doi:10.1515/9781503618305

Cited by 42 publications

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“…24 Just as Sartre urged us to eschew 'bad faith' and the 'suspension of judgement' in our everyday existence, 25 Schell counselled engaging art and imagination in order to join even the likes of Herman Khan in 'thinking about the unthinkable' . 26 A mid-1980s reflection on the ongoing relevance of existentialism even spoke of juxtaposing Schell and Sartre on university syllabi. 27 Lisl Marburg Goodman and Lee Ann Hoff 's exploration of the human condition under the threat of 'thermonuclear omnicide' channelled Sartre when they argued, ' Alienation, then, is a response to overwhelming nuclear anxiety. '…”

Section: Thinking the Unthinkable About The Existential Weaponmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘No one around to shut the dead eyes of the human race’: Sartre, Aron, and the limits of existentialism in the Nuclear Age

Zala

2023

Rev. Int. Stud.

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The Nuclear Age is said to be defined by the notion of existential threat. The ability to destroy human societies in their entirety with a single class of weaponry raises profound questions about human existence. It even gives us a new form of species extinction – ‘thermonuclear omnicide’. Unsurprisingly, existentialism was a philosophy that found its feet in the shadow of the bomb. This article explores the possibilities and limits of an existentialist approach to nuclear dangers. It contrasts the views of two figures central to early existentialism: Jean-Paul Sartre and Raymond Aron. Sartre responded to the existential threat of nuclear war with moral outrage about the ‘unreality’ of the Cold War politics driving the arms race and an existentialist call to reject militaristic social norms. Aron, a key figure in early IR realism, famously rejected existentialism and turned instead to outlining norms for an international society that might better restrain nuclear-armed decision-makers. Bringing Sartre’s and Aron’s post-Second World War discussions into the new century, this article argues that the ongoing, and even growing, threats posed by nuclear weapons highlight the limits of Sartre’s approach as a guide to authentic existence in modern life. Instead, it supports Aron’s more conservative approach but also draws on Existentialism to extend it, strengthening the nuclear taboo for the sake of human survival as a persistent but urgent political project. At a moment in IR when scholars and other analysts are once again critiquing the fragile norms of global order and speculating about the dawn of a ‘Third Nuclear Age’, theoretical reflection on the politics of existential threats and the hard choices they entail remain indispensable aspects of IR’s theoretical toolkit. While Sartre and other existentialists argued convincingly that existence precedes essence, Aron reminds us that survival remains a precondition for both.

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Section: Thinking the Unthinkable About The Existential Weaponmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘No one around to shut the dead eyes of the human race’: Sartre, Aron, and the limits of existentialism in the Nuclear Age

Zala

2023

Rev. Int. Stud.

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“…While that did not lead to the abolition of nuclear weapons, it did inspire a variety of efforts to rethink international relations which, when embraced by the Soviet leadership, played a critical role in ending the Cold War (Polynov, 2012; Risse‐Kappen, 1994). Yet what was once seen as extraordinary has come to seem normal, and the sense of urgency has ebbed ( Pelopidas, 2021; Schell, 2000). While governments express ritual hopes that nuclear weapons will someday disappear from the earth, little serious thought is given to how to bring this about.…”

Section: What Is To Be Done?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Nuclear war as a predictable surprise

Rendall

2022

Global Policy

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Like asteroids, hundred-year floods and pandemic disease, thermonuclear war is a low-frequency, high-impact threat. In the long run, catastrophe is inevitable if nothing is done − yet each successive government and generation may fail to address it. Drawing on risk perception research, this paper argues that psychological biases cause the threat of nuclear war to receive less attention than it deserves. Nuclear deterrence is, moreover, a 'front-loaded good': its benefits accrue disproportionately to proximate generations, whereas much of the expected cost will be borne in the distant future. Recent surveys indicate that the US and Russian publics assign a surprisingly high likelihood to nuclear war.Nevertheless, earlier research suggests that it is probably not believed to be just around the corner. This, along with the absence of easy solutions, encourages governments and publics to give priority to more pressing concerns. The danger is that the pattern will continue clear up to the point that nuclear war arrives.

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Debating ‘the Nuclear Evil’ in U.S. Nuclear Fiction

Sukhenko

2021

Performativity of Villainy and Evil in Anglophone Literature and Media

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The Fate of the Earth and The Abolition

Cited by 42 publications

References 0 publications

‘No one around to shut the dead eyes of the human race’: Sartre, Aron, and the limits of existentialism in the Nuclear Age

‘No one around to shut the dead eyes of the human race’: Sartre, Aron, and the limits of existentialism in the Nuclear Age

Nuclear war as a predictable surprise

Debating ‘the Nuclear Evil’ in U.S. Nuclear Fiction

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