Philosophy of Antifascism

4/10

Devin Zane Shaw (2020)

I’m breaking this rating in two because I ended up definitely not being the target audience. Four stars is my objective rating for what the book is and set out to be: a rigorous philosophical inquiry into the ethics of antifascism. I think Shaw accomplishes his goal, although I’m subtracting a star because I remain unconvinced as to the absolute utility of this goal beyond the important elucidation of his “Three-Way Fight” paradigm. In this model Antifascism, Liberalism and Fascism exist not on a spectrum but on a triangle, with each pair linked by a common feature yet nonetheless diametrically opposed in a fundamental way. The book is useful for this model alone.

Subjectively for my own interest/enjoyment I give it two stars, because I have long since stopped caring much for philosophy, and this entry does not convince me to start caring again. In my older years I have so little patience for it, partly because my attention-span has distressingly deteriorated but also because it just feels so navel-gazy. It’s virtually inconceivable to me that works like these — disputing the subtle semantic mistakes of modern interpretations of famous French philosophers, all in order to explain why punching Nazis is okay — have a significant impact on society. In order to meet the goal of convincing people that punching Nazis is okay, imo a social history meant for a broader audience would be much more useful (something like This Nonviolent Stuff’ll Get You Killed or In Defense of Looting).

When I added this book to my list it was as a result of hearing a podcast interview with the author (on the vital Rev Left Radio), and as a result I was expecting a more practically-minded book. This book is not that. I did appreciate learning a little more about Beauvoir’s and Sartre’s analysis of violence, but on a philosophical level I’m disappointed that Shaw so easily dismissed Camus (whose The Rebel would seem to be at least worth considering even if tangentially).

Overall I would recommend this book to antifascist theory-heads, philosophy lovers, and fans of Beauvoir and Sartre. For the laypeople like myself you can probably just try to be content with the above interview and a couple related articles on the Three-Way Fight.