Dr. Sebastian Schindler
Summer Semester 2020
Sebastian Schindler is Assistant Professor at the Geschwister-Scholl-Institute for Political Science at LMU Munich. He studied political science, history, philosophy and sociology in Munich, Paris and Minneapolis. In 2016, he received his doctoral degree (Dr. phil.) from Goethe University Frankfurt/Main with a thesis on the relationship between explanation and allegation ("Explanation and Allegation: Self-Interest in International Relations and in the UN Food Agency Fight").
His habilitation ('second book') explores the task of critique in the times of post-truth. We are presently observing a proliferation of pseudo-critical attitudes in society that assume that one finds, behind any and all claims to factual truth, only ulterior, manipulative interests. An adequate diagnosis of this phenomenon allows elaborate answers to three more general questions, namely
- what the present crisis of politics is actually about,
- why it emerged and
- how we should respond to it.
At the center of this diagnosis are neither social media nor postmodernity nor specific political or economic interests, but rather the loss of the political experience of acting together in a time of unleashed competition.
During his stay as Junior Researcher in Residence at CAS, Sebastian Schindler will examine the lessons contained in the emergence of so-called 'post-truth politics' for understanding the causes of the contemporary crisis of politics. Specifically, he will analyze the link between post-truth and the unleashing of competition. In a time in which all action is potentially viewed as competitive, there is a proliferation of the suspicion that allegedly benevolent intentions are in reality disguises of selfishness and egoism. In this way, cynical beliefs can take hold among the members of a society, a development that provides the basis for post-truth discourse.
Visiting Fellows
- Prof. Dr. Beate Jahn
(University of Sussex)
Events
- Workshop – "Critique in the Times of Post-Truth"
(Summer Semester 2020) - Lunch Talk – "Is Critique Obsolete in the Age of Post-Truth?" | Respondent: Prof. Dr. Christian Volk (FU Berlin)
(Summer Semester 2020)
Publicatios on the Topic
- Sebastian Schindler (2020), "The Task of Critique in Times of Post-Truth Politics", Review of International Studies, 1-19.
- Sebastian Schindler (2020), "Corona and Conspiracy: Post-Truth Politics Revisited", Duck of Minverva, May 13, 2020.