Arta Moeini | Georgetown University (original) (raw)
Papers by Arta Moeini
The American Conservative , 2020
The paper advances a generational psychosociological argument for the persistence of the Blob in ... more The paper advances a generational psychosociological argument for the persistence of the Blob in Western foreign policy and attempts to explain the remarkable endurance of a Cold War mentality in the multipolar post-Cold War age.
The National Interest, 2020
The economic consequences of the Coronavirus will be severe and could spawn an economic crisis co... more The economic consequences of the Coronavirus will be severe and could spawn an economic crisis comparable to the Great Depression given the existing vulnerabilities in the US economic system coupled with globalization.
The National Interest, 2019
After 18 years, it is time to end America's war in Afghanistan. We argue that the US can proceed ... more After 18 years, it is time to end America's war in Afghanistan. We argue that the US can proceed with withdrawal without negotiating with the Taliban while providing reassurances to the Afghan government. We conceive of a number of strategies rooted in the grand strategy of restraint and call for a prudent and responsible withdrawal centered around a regional security architecture that would minimize the risk of destabilization to Kabul.
Adopting a "scientistic" approach, Weber is engaged in a task of description (of sociopolitical p... more Adopting a "scientistic" approach, Weber is engaged in a task of description (of sociopolitical phenomena) rather than one of prescription. It is my contention that the kind of democracy Weber describes (and appears to be resigned to) reflects what he observes to be the reality of the "modern" system of politics predicated on his notion of rationalization and his belief in the ascendency of "instrumental reason" in the "modern" paradigm, and that he understands these forces of rationalization in modernity to make true realization of (substantive) democracy next to impossible in practice. What I find rather misleading is the systematic effort on the part of many contemporary commentators on Weber to present a "prescriptive" "normative" reading of Weber from which he himself consciously and emphatically refrained (or else he would have left us with a systematic theoretical treatise of his political philosophy). I specifically reject claims made by various Liberal commentators such as Mark Warren in his "Weber's Liberalism for a Nietzschean World", where he posits there to be a "substantive theory of democracy" and an emphasis on ethical significance hidden and implicit in Weber (although Warren himself concedes that Weber does not see this as possible given the inherently bureaucratic structure of the modern political life). 1 His challenge that had Weber simply carried his own logic to its ultimate conclusion he would have been able to resolve the "incoherence" he saw between modern rational politics and a genuine democratic order appears to me problematic. Warren is guilty of projecting his own political values (what he hopes to find in Weber) unto Weber rather than reading Weber as he is-a political realist. The political pessimism one finds emanating throughout Weber's writings is by design, reflective of his disillusionment with the "modern" reality.
Perhaps more than any other political notion in our times, democracy has reached remarkable level... more Perhaps more than any other political notion in our times, democracy has reached remarkable levels of universal reception. It seems as if in some abstract way, democracy has been embraced by nearly all regimes. It has developed into its own creed, elevated to the religion of the political world. Ironically, even regimes that would be easily classified as nondemocratic, under traditional definitions, happily invoke the word to remain in the "circle of the faithful". While calling someone a democrat has become a term of endearment, denying or even questioning democracy's merits has been tantamount to committing a primordial sin, rendering one an outcast to the political community. One would be hard pressed to find a regime left in the world that is not a self-proclaimed democracy (irrespective of its practices). By all means, therefore, it appears as though democracy has turned into the most powerful source for "just" authority, prescribed as panacea to the woes of all regimes. Both friends and foes of the democratic conception drink from its fountain to be blessed with credibility. Yet in its universality, democracy has lost its specificity; it has been interpreted inconsistently by different regimes across different contexts to justify regime sovereignty.
Zarathustra's Philosopher: Exploring the Transcendent in Plato's Republic aṱ tā mainyū paouruyēyā... more Zarathustra's Philosopher: Exploring the Transcendent in Plato's Republic aṱ tā mainyū paouruyēyā yə̄mā xᵛafnā asrwātəm manahicā wacahicā šyaoθanōi hī wahyō akəmcā And so, from the beginning (of time), the twin fundamental mindsets [came to conflict], manifesting themselves in two kinds of thought, speech, and action-One (actively) good and one (disruptively) evil. And between these two mentalities, the wise (enlightened) souls choose rightly (the good), while the ignorant ones err. Zarathustra, Gathas (Yasna 30.3) 1
The paper investigates Modernist theory from three different perspectives and epistemological van... more The paper investigates Modernist theory from three different perspectives and epistemological vantage points embodied in the works of three seminal figures of German philosophy--Kant, Hegel, and Herder. It concludes that adopting a Herderian framework in engaging with the problematic of Modernity is most conducive to creating a truly pluralistic world where different lifeworlds with different meta-ethical frameworks could peacefully coexist and interact.
The paper offers a new reading of Max Weber, in which he is placed as a torch-bearer for a new tr... more The paper offers a new reading of Max Weber, in which he is placed as a torch-bearer for a new tradition going back to Machiavelli--that of "visionary realism"
The Secret to the East-West Schism and the Advent of the Modern World:
Books by Arta Moeini
Georgetown University , 2019
By means of an in-depth exegesis of the works of Alasdair MacIntyre and Friedrich Nietzsche, my d... more By means of an in-depth exegesis of the works of Alasdair MacIntyre and Friedrich Nietzsche, my dissertation argues that the fundamental pathology afflicting Modernity in the West is not a crisis of values—whether valuelessness or value-anarchy (i.e., an axiological crisis)—as MacIntyre claims, but meaninglessness and will-lessness (i.e., a practical-existential crisis), the latter having profound cultural and political implications in Nietzsche’s view and prognosticating cultural passivity and total nihilism for the West.
With his emphasis on the ‘revaluation of all values’, I argue that Nietzsche proposes a positive program designed to counteract this general decline in the cultural health of the West unleashed by the décadent and ressentimental instincts and their domination (for millennia) of the Western form of life (i.e., ‘culture-complex’) within different corruptive/degenerative paradigms. By means of a distinctive tragic and visionary realism that emphasizes the natural condition of human life (as one shaped in relation to suffering, disorder and flux and in an incessant search for meaning) and the differential ‘psycho-physiology’ (or ‘nature’) of various human types (in terms of their capacity for mythopoetic activity), Nietzsche hopes to reaffirm the dominance of the (healthy) ‘pathos of Distanz’ embodied in the Übermenschlich types of persons and to do so within an epoch-transforming project that is informed by a novel ‘philosophy of life’ and deemed attainable within a new ‘politics of culture’.
Under the aegis of what he calls ‘great politics’ and conceives of as an ‘agonistic aristocracy’, Nietzsche envisions the radical possibility for profound cultural transformation and regeneration, anticipated since the Enlightenment, to finally be effected as the ‘destiny of task’ of those higher and exceptional types of men—the Übermenschen, bringing about a new dawn in (higher) culture. Nietzsche’s emphasis on culture as the source of symbolic and practical meaning (i.e., semiotic order) for human life and his insistence on the dynamic transformation of ‘culture-complexes’ within continuous cycles of ascent and decline, a process informed by the willpower of outstanding human agents or the Übermensch (exemplifying the strongest spirits in mankind), betrays his critique of Modernity as well as his overarching life-affirming philosophy and theory of (cultural) agency—all within a distinctive form of realism and of ‘dispositional-spiritual’ (or perspectival) orientation we can label “anthro-culturalism”.
The American Conservative , 2020
The paper advances a generational psychosociological argument for the persistence of the Blob in ... more The paper advances a generational psychosociological argument for the persistence of the Blob in Western foreign policy and attempts to explain the remarkable endurance of a Cold War mentality in the multipolar post-Cold War age.
The National Interest, 2020
The economic consequences of the Coronavirus will be severe and could spawn an economic crisis co... more The economic consequences of the Coronavirus will be severe and could spawn an economic crisis comparable to the Great Depression given the existing vulnerabilities in the US economic system coupled with globalization.
The National Interest, 2019
After 18 years, it is time to end America's war in Afghanistan. We argue that the US can proceed ... more After 18 years, it is time to end America's war in Afghanistan. We argue that the US can proceed with withdrawal without negotiating with the Taliban while providing reassurances to the Afghan government. We conceive of a number of strategies rooted in the grand strategy of restraint and call for a prudent and responsible withdrawal centered around a regional security architecture that would minimize the risk of destabilization to Kabul.
Adopting a "scientistic" approach, Weber is engaged in a task of description (of sociopolitical p... more Adopting a "scientistic" approach, Weber is engaged in a task of description (of sociopolitical phenomena) rather than one of prescription. It is my contention that the kind of democracy Weber describes (and appears to be resigned to) reflects what he observes to be the reality of the "modern" system of politics predicated on his notion of rationalization and his belief in the ascendency of "instrumental reason" in the "modern" paradigm, and that he understands these forces of rationalization in modernity to make true realization of (substantive) democracy next to impossible in practice. What I find rather misleading is the systematic effort on the part of many contemporary commentators on Weber to present a "prescriptive" "normative" reading of Weber from which he himself consciously and emphatically refrained (or else he would have left us with a systematic theoretical treatise of his political philosophy). I specifically reject claims made by various Liberal commentators such as Mark Warren in his "Weber's Liberalism for a Nietzschean World", where he posits there to be a "substantive theory of democracy" and an emphasis on ethical significance hidden and implicit in Weber (although Warren himself concedes that Weber does not see this as possible given the inherently bureaucratic structure of the modern political life). 1 His challenge that had Weber simply carried his own logic to its ultimate conclusion he would have been able to resolve the "incoherence" he saw between modern rational politics and a genuine democratic order appears to me problematic. Warren is guilty of projecting his own political values (what he hopes to find in Weber) unto Weber rather than reading Weber as he is-a political realist. The political pessimism one finds emanating throughout Weber's writings is by design, reflective of his disillusionment with the "modern" reality.
Perhaps more than any other political notion in our times, democracy has reached remarkable level... more Perhaps more than any other political notion in our times, democracy has reached remarkable levels of universal reception. It seems as if in some abstract way, democracy has been embraced by nearly all regimes. It has developed into its own creed, elevated to the religion of the political world. Ironically, even regimes that would be easily classified as nondemocratic, under traditional definitions, happily invoke the word to remain in the "circle of the faithful". While calling someone a democrat has become a term of endearment, denying or even questioning democracy's merits has been tantamount to committing a primordial sin, rendering one an outcast to the political community. One would be hard pressed to find a regime left in the world that is not a self-proclaimed democracy (irrespective of its practices). By all means, therefore, it appears as though democracy has turned into the most powerful source for "just" authority, prescribed as panacea to the woes of all regimes. Both friends and foes of the democratic conception drink from its fountain to be blessed with credibility. Yet in its universality, democracy has lost its specificity; it has been interpreted inconsistently by different regimes across different contexts to justify regime sovereignty.
Zarathustra's Philosopher: Exploring the Transcendent in Plato's Republic aṱ tā mainyū paouruyēyā... more Zarathustra's Philosopher: Exploring the Transcendent in Plato's Republic aṱ tā mainyū paouruyēyā yə̄mā xᵛafnā asrwātəm manahicā wacahicā šyaoθanōi hī wahyō akəmcā And so, from the beginning (of time), the twin fundamental mindsets [came to conflict], manifesting themselves in two kinds of thought, speech, and action-One (actively) good and one (disruptively) evil. And between these two mentalities, the wise (enlightened) souls choose rightly (the good), while the ignorant ones err. Zarathustra, Gathas (Yasna 30.3) 1
The paper investigates Modernist theory from three different perspectives and epistemological van... more The paper investigates Modernist theory from three different perspectives and epistemological vantage points embodied in the works of three seminal figures of German philosophy--Kant, Hegel, and Herder. It concludes that adopting a Herderian framework in engaging with the problematic of Modernity is most conducive to creating a truly pluralistic world where different lifeworlds with different meta-ethical frameworks could peacefully coexist and interact.
The paper offers a new reading of Max Weber, in which he is placed as a torch-bearer for a new tr... more The paper offers a new reading of Max Weber, in which he is placed as a torch-bearer for a new tradition going back to Machiavelli--that of "visionary realism"
The Secret to the East-West Schism and the Advent of the Modern World:
Georgetown University , 2019
By means of an in-depth exegesis of the works of Alasdair MacIntyre and Friedrich Nietzsche, my d... more By means of an in-depth exegesis of the works of Alasdair MacIntyre and Friedrich Nietzsche, my dissertation argues that the fundamental pathology afflicting Modernity in the West is not a crisis of values—whether valuelessness or value-anarchy (i.e., an axiological crisis)—as MacIntyre claims, but meaninglessness and will-lessness (i.e., a practical-existential crisis), the latter having profound cultural and political implications in Nietzsche’s view and prognosticating cultural passivity and total nihilism for the West.
With his emphasis on the ‘revaluation of all values’, I argue that Nietzsche proposes a positive program designed to counteract this general decline in the cultural health of the West unleashed by the décadent and ressentimental instincts and their domination (for millennia) of the Western form of life (i.e., ‘culture-complex’) within different corruptive/degenerative paradigms. By means of a distinctive tragic and visionary realism that emphasizes the natural condition of human life (as one shaped in relation to suffering, disorder and flux and in an incessant search for meaning) and the differential ‘psycho-physiology’ (or ‘nature’) of various human types (in terms of their capacity for mythopoetic activity), Nietzsche hopes to reaffirm the dominance of the (healthy) ‘pathos of Distanz’ embodied in the Übermenschlich types of persons and to do so within an epoch-transforming project that is informed by a novel ‘philosophy of life’ and deemed attainable within a new ‘politics of culture’.
Under the aegis of what he calls ‘great politics’ and conceives of as an ‘agonistic aristocracy’, Nietzsche envisions the radical possibility for profound cultural transformation and regeneration, anticipated since the Enlightenment, to finally be effected as the ‘destiny of task’ of those higher and exceptional types of men—the Übermenschen, bringing about a new dawn in (higher) culture. Nietzsche’s emphasis on culture as the source of symbolic and practical meaning (i.e., semiotic order) for human life and his insistence on the dynamic transformation of ‘culture-complexes’ within continuous cycles of ascent and decline, a process informed by the willpower of outstanding human agents or the Übermensch (exemplifying the strongest spirits in mankind), betrays his critique of Modernity as well as his overarching life-affirming philosophy and theory of (cultural) agency—all within a distinctive form of realism and of ‘dispositional-spiritual’ (or perspectival) orientation we can label “anthro-culturalism”.