PROMETHEISM AS FOURTH POLITICAL THEORY (PART ONE)

by Pedro Olavarria

In Rise of the Fourth Political Theory, Alexander Dugin outlines a paradigm for understanding his project of Eurasianism in contrast to Liberalism, Socialism and Fascism. In this first post of a five part series, I will explain Prometheism in terms of Subject, Object and Time. To do that, I have to briefly describe the three political theories of the 20th century, for which Dugin will be my guide.

The Subject of Liberalism is the Individual, government exists for his sake, his interests and needs are ultimate. The Object upon which the Individual acts is a "privatized, fragmented, alienated atomic cosmos". The world doesn't exist as a whole but as material segments owned by individuals.

In Liberalism, the arrow of Time is conceived as pointing to a telos, which is our present, a present of inconsistent progress. Liberal societies see themselves as the apex of human societal development, all other non-Liberal societies are seen as backward or in the process of becoming Liberal.

The Subject of Socialism is the Working Class; the government exists to further the interests and needs of the Workers. The Object upon which the Workers act is a socialized, fragmented, atomic cosmos, that is to say that the world is material, physically fragmented but owned by the common. This is almost identical to the Liberal view, as Socialism is a reaction to Liberalism.

In Socialism, Time is one of "Future Progress", which is to say that the Socialists are working toward an unmet goal of Communism, a technologically advanced and flat society of contented and equal workers.

The Subject of Fascism was The State (Italy) or the Race (Germany) for which the State exists, the Object was lebensraum, the living space for the Aryan race (Germany) or new Roman Empire(Italy). The world for Fascists was Romantically understood; which is to say that the Fascists looked to ancient Rome, Germania and even India for ancient world views to resurrect and modify in the present age.

For Fascists, Time was concieved as being cyclical; the past, present and future were part of a wheel of repeating historical cycles of spiritual ascension and decline. 

Prometheism 

The Subject of Prometheism is the "fire" of technoscience. Prometheism is dedicated to realizing the acceptance of technology's priority to and over theory, in all of the sciences. The Object upon which technoscience acts is "the world" as a plastic medium, shaped by the enframing of technoscience. The world, ala Heidegger, is that place and time in what you say, do and think makes sense; the advancement of technoscience radically changes that in ways that nothing else does.

Prometheism's conception of time is progressive and lineal, totally rejecting of cyclical time of Fascism but not following the naive teleological utopianism of Socialism. The arc of history is bending to the technological singularity: the end of history, humanity and reality, as we know them. This telos can be positive or negative, depending on our awareness of it's existence and our ability to take control of it, rather than being controlled by it unawares.

Also published at Furtum Ignis