Populist reason, knowledge and passions in politics

Abstract

In the academic and broader public debates over populism, populism is mostly linked to irrationality taking the form of denial of scientific knowledge, of outbursts of dangerous emotions in the public sphere and onslaught on (universalist, liberal) order in the form of rule of law. Challenging this pejorative notion from both a theoretical and historical perspective, the panel follows the path opened up by the late Ernesto Laclau’s seminal work on Populist Reason (2005). Thinking politically rather than rationalistic, his work showed how the articulation of a people, by contingently bringing together demands and identities, are to be understood as a specific reason. Populist reason is centered on dealing with contingencies in constructing a people as a political actor. Such contingency obviously has great political consequences when it comes to knowledge, as it rules out the possibility for deeper rationalistic foundations of politics. Knowledge becomes an element in political struggles, both on the level of knowledge itself as well as the articulations of consequences favoured by different political actors. The absence of rational foundations also introduces a necessary moment of passions - affective investments – as an intergral part of any political project. The panel examines the many paths and interpretations opened up by the Laclauian intervention, historically and theoretically, including, the concept ofpopulist reason; populist reason and democracy; populism and (elite) expertise; passion in populism; and the articulation of knowledge in populist constructions of the people.

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