The Reckless Mind

Intellectuals in political activity. The Reckless Mind profiles thinkers who were so misled by the ideologies and upheavals of their time that they turned a blind eye to authoritarianism, brutality, and state terrorism, with dire consequences for our intellectual and political life. Profiling six prominent 20th-century thinkers—Martin Heidegger, Carl Schmitt, Walter Benjamin, Alexandre Kojève, Michel Foucault, and Jacques Derrida—Mark Lilla explores the psychology of engagement with political thought, explaining how intellectuals who prove incapable of mastering their own passions can be drawn into a political sphere they barely understand.