Charisma: Eros/Thanatos

Everyone knows what charisma feels like – but who can explain it? And what are we to make of its constitutive moral ambiguity? Charisma appears as sacred grace, as inspiration, and as erotic love – but also as the hypnotic evil that leads millions to murder. Charisma sits awkwardly amid the rationalities of secular social theory. And yet it’s a commonplace to suppose that some kind of enthusiasm or effervescence, some kind of surplus fascination is a necessary condition of social life. This seminar interleaves psychoanalysis, sociology, theology, and political theory to help us make sense of charisma as a pharmakon of social life: at once life and death, eros and thanatos.

CCCT 31401 | ANTH 31401