Identity and Right-Wing Ideology

Right-wing movements have increased exponentially over the last decade. They pose a threat to democratic political systems by promoting nationalism, xenophobia and racism. They tend to be structured around exclusive identities involving political myths about the existence of supra-personal entities or groups. These identities are portrayed as something under threat that is nonetheless worth preserving. An example is the Great Replacement Theory, which claims that white, Christian Europeans are being demographically and culturally replaced, usually by Muslim populations. This theory is, of course, not supported by quantitative evidence. However, proponents of this theory include prominent mainstream politicians (e.g. Giorgia Meloni, Prime Minister of Italy, or Viktor Orbán, Prime Minister of Hungary) and people in extraordinary positions of power (e.g. businessman Elon Musk). Equally, a great proportion of the incidents involving considerable political violence (i.e., terror attacks such as the Christchurch Mosque shootings, Anders Breivik’s attacks) occurring in recent years have been motivated by fears fuelled by this theory.

This form of identity – conceived as a set of characteristics of a social group – involves a different, relational understanding implied by the desire for the former to 'remain the same'. In metaphysics, identity is conceived in two ways: qualitative (as a relation between two entities that have the same properties) and numerical (as a relation that an entity can only have with itself at two different points in time). The issues come up in the context of the metaphysics of the self as the question of personal identity over time. This asks what a necessary and sufficient condition is for a person at one point in time to be (numerically) identical to a person at another point in time – or what constitutes this identity.

This conference will explore ways in which right-wing ideology involves matters of identity. While interdisciplinary approaches are welcome, the aim will be to identify what metaphysical commitments about identity these tend to involve. Conversely, can insights from metaphysics, especially but not limited to the question of personal identity (e.g. reductionism), be used to critique right-wing concerns, such as those involved by great replacement theory? And on what grounds can we distinguish legitimate concerns (e.g. anti-colonialism) that involve comparable identity relations?

Funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the State of Berlin, as part of the Excellence Strategy of the Federal and State Governments, through the Berlin University Alliance.