Miskatonian

09/10/2025

"The central paradox of these conflicts is that they often emerged from causes that appeared trivial in themselves—a romantic rivalry, a marriage alliance denied, or a quarrel over inheritance—yet once they gained momentum, they could transform the structure of government and even provoke wars." ~ Clifford Angell Bates

Analyze the dynamics of factional conflicts in cities by uncovering Aristotle's ideas on civic stability and political philosophy.

02/10/2025

Another excellent contribution from our editor-in-chief, Aleksandar!

“Arendt’s political phenomenology transforms Heidegger’s existential analytic into a relational framework, where individual authenticity fuels collective action, revealing the human state as a dynamic interplay of Being and public engagement.” ~ Aleksandar Todorovski

Explore the phenomenological perspectives of Heidegger and Arendt in Being, Time, and Action. This essay contrasts Dasein’s ontological inquiry with Arendt’s political focus on plurality, natality, and action, revealing their complementary insights into the human condition.

01/10/2025

"Yeats’s cyclical vision of history aligns with the New Radical Right’s call for a return to pre-Christian paganism. As the ‘centre no longer holds,’ society faces an interregnum where grand narratives collapse, paving the way for an organic, roots-based order destined to replace the linear, egalitarian tradition." ~ Luke Gilfedder - Author

Explore Modernism and Time Part I: Wyndham Lewis versus the ‘Eternal Return’. Discover the interplay between time and modern experience.

20/09/2025

"For Aristotle, power is no mere tool of dominance—it’s the pulse of the polis, a force that, when forged with virtue, binds justice to the common good. Yet, when twisted by coercion, it becomes bia, a shadowy tyrant that erodes trust and breeds rebellion." ~ Clifford Angell Bates

Explore Aristotle’s raw politics of power in "Forging the Chains of Virtue." Dive into his views on governance, justice, and virtue, from legitimate authority to coercive rule, and how they shape a just society. Uncover the dynamics of power in the polis.

18/09/2025

"Sovereign is he who decides on the exception,” Carl Schmitt declares, placing ultimate authority in the power to act decisively in crises. Political form, for Schmitt, hinges on this existential capacity to preserve a community’s unity and fate." ~ Clifford Angell Bates

Explore The Pulse of Power: Carl Schmitt’s Radical Theory of Political Form and its impact on contemporary political thought.

14/09/2025

“Hegel’s dialectical understanding of categories transforms our conception of creativity and productive activity. Rather than imposing fixed frameworks on the world, the creative subject engages in the dynamic unfolding of categories, co-constituting both self and reality through a process of negation and synthesis.”
~ Aleksandar Todorovski

Explore Hegel’s Dynamic Dance of Being and Becoming, revealing a revolutionary view of categories and their transformative potential.

12/09/2025

https://www.miskatonian.com/2025/09/12/magna-renovatio-fractal-contradictions-in-hegelian-history/

"The Hegelian dialectic appears in many political patterns of rise and fall across history. This recognition raises several difficult questions. Is it possible to identify the logic of collapse in advance, to see the moment of culmination before it tips into negation? Could a polity employ the antithesis deliberately, not as an uncontrolled crisis but as a conscious adjustment to redirect its trajectory?" ~ Narmin Khalilova

Examine the spiral path of Rome's history through a Hegelian lens in Magna Renovatio: Fractal Contradictions in Hegelian History.

16/08/2025

"Central to Schmitt’s conception of political form is the idea of representation. In contrast to liberal theories that treat representation as a mere mechanism of electoral accountability, Schmitt conceives of it as a substantive and symbolic act. Representation, for him, is the process by which the unity and identity of the political community are embodied in an authority that can speak and act on its behalf." Clifford Angell Bates

Explore Carl Schmitt’s political form, decoding liberal democracy’s unity crisis. Dive into his critique of liberalism, sovereignty, and the Catholic Church’s model for political authority in this insightful analysis.

10/08/2025

A great new piece from our editor in chief!

"For the first time, the potentiality of a new religion arises not as a superstructure for maintaining and reproducing an economic base, but as the unapologetic gospel announcing its replacement (Halpern et al., 1956). Posthumanism will be the first to address not the entirety of humanity, but a specific section of it, capable of the technological prowess it demands, resulting in a religious movement with a class characteristic, or even as a project aimed at re-stratifying society based on biological and technological advantages." ~ Aleksandar Todorovski

Explore the concepts in Eternal Chains: Posthuman Ascendancy and the Gulag of Flesh, focusing on transhumanism and technological enhancement.

22/07/2025

"In Marine Lover of Nietzsche, Irigaray focuses on the element of water and encounters Nietzsche by addressing him in the second person (in fact, she only mentions Nietzsche’s name towards the end of the book). She touches on certain Nietzschean concepts, like eternal recurrence, the Übermensch, self‐overcoming, etc., and also questions Nietzsche’s relationship with women. Water is the central element here; as for Irigaray, water is the element Nietzsche fears the most." ~ Ilgin Yildiz

Delve into the transformative ideas of Hystera's Rebellion: Shattering the Phallogocentric Cave and the significance of sexual difference.

21/07/2025

"In the works of Machiavelli, the term lo stato appears with a frequency and emphasis that mark it as a central category of thought. Unlike the classical polis or the Christian civitas, lo stato is not a community aimed at the moral perfection of its members, but a political structure concerned primarily with order, preservation, and the exercise of power. This terminological shift signifies a reorientation of political thinking: from a focus on the ethical and spiritual ends of human life to the material and institutional conditions necessary for political survival."


https://www.miskatonian.com/2025/07/20/a-statesmans-gambit-how-machiavelli-redefined-modern-politics/

20/07/2025

The first article after our break is from our senior editor, Clifford Angell Bates.

"In the works of Machiavelli, the term lo stato appears with a frequency and emphasis that mark it as a central category of thought. Unlike the classical polis or the Christian civitas, lo stato is not a community aimed at the moral perfection of its members, but a political structure concerned primarily with order, preservation, and the exercise of power. This terminological shift signifies a reorientation of political thinking: from a focus on the ethical and spiritual ends of human life to the material and institutional conditions necessary for political survival." ~ Clifford Angell Bates

Machiavelli’s lo stato in A Statesman’s Gambit: How his vision of power and necessity shaped the modern state’s foundation.