Secularism Stuck in the End-Times: From Alexandre Kojève to the Recent Messianic Turn

Abstract

In current Western philosophical discourse, secularism appears to be at a crossroads. There has been much written about the return of religion into politics and the public sphere, as well as the rise of fundamentalism and new spiritualisms. At the same time, there has been a revaluation of political theology and a critical examination of the legacy of secularism, with even the suggestion that we are already in a “post-secular” age. In this article, I argue One of the key model of secularisation that continues to shape such discussions of the topic originates from a framework initiated by the Russian-born French Hegelian Alexandre Kojeve. At the centre of Kojeve’s interpretation of Georg W.F. Hegel’s philosophical idealism is the doctrine of the end of history, which Francis Fukuyama famously appropriated after the fall of the Berlin Wall. I will propose that there is a thematic thread that runs from Kojeve’s controversial yet unique theorisation of the modern secular State as an ‘End-State’ into the recent political messianism of Giorgio Agamben mediated by Carl Schmitt’s political theology. The issue of the relationship between religion and secularism in these discussions concerns the theological remainder that persists in the modern Hegelo-Kojeve end of history. Kojeve and Agamben’s re-consideration of theology and its anthropological or political “truth” is worthy of attention for raising important questions concerning the spiritual foundation of modern secularism. Despite this importance, I will argue that both sides of this discussion overestimate the significance of a theological-political framework for understanding modern secular life.