“Ni dieux ni maitre”. Anarchism and Political Theology

Abstract

Starting from a Carl Schmitt’s intuition, the text wants to investigate the ambiguous relationship between theology and libertarian political thought. In fact, if, on the one hand, anarchists were among the firsts who denounced the analogy between modern juridical-political concepts and the theological ones, on the other hand, they did not manage to completely abandon the legacy of theology. I will show, then, how libertarian theorists remain trapped into theology, which they re-propose as an enlightened belief in Man and in the progress of humanity. In this panorama, the figure of Max Stirner is exceptional. He not only reveals the Christian facet of modern liberalism, but also calls into question the subjectivity of the believer as the basis of the secularization process. Finally, I will explore the Stirnerian proposal of a policy of profanation as a way out of political theology.