Time and Politics under Lethal Threats

Furio Cerutti, Emeritus Professor of Political Philosophy, Università degli Studi di Firenze and Affiliate Professor, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy

‘Too many political theorists and philosophers still pretend it's “business-as-usual” by ignoring the existential challenges posed to humankind by climate change, the specter of nuclear war, and unchecked AI. The Italian philosopher Furio Cerutti's great achievement in his provocative new book is to shake us out of our dogmatic slumbers. Cerutti demonstrates that we not only need to take those existential threats seriously but that they demand of us that we rethink, in far-reaching ways, the tasks of political philosophy.’

• Contents1 An introduction to time, futures and politics PART I FUTURES AND THE NEW BIPOLARITY OFPOLITICS: POLITICS #1 AND #22 Futures and politics: on the unprecedented role of scientificknowledge of specific futures in political decision-making 3 Time and the law: humankind’s right to survival 4 What has time got to do with legitimacy? 5 Political normativity redefined: the role of time PART II UNDERNEATH THE LABOURS OF POLITICS: ACASE OF NORMATIVITY REASSESSED, WHILEDECONSTRUCTING POPULISM AND MAKINGGOOD USE OF A CLASSIC6 Climate ethics or politics for the future? 7 Populism without future 8 Predicting the future? How to use, and not misuse, Karl Marx9 A modest conclusion to time, futures and politics Bibliography