In this conversation recorded live in Miami, Tyler and Peter Thiel dive deep into the complexities of political theology, including why it’s a concept we still need today, why Peter’s against Calvinism (and rationalism), whether the Old Testament should lead us to be woke, why Carl Schmitt is enjoying a resurgence, whether we’re entering a new age of millenarian thought, the one existential risk Peter thinks we’re overlooking, why everyone just muddling through leads to disaster, the role of the katechon, the political vision in Shakespeare, how AI will affect the influence of wordcels, Straussian messages in the Bible, what worries Peter about Miami, and more. Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video. Recorded February 21st, 2024. Other ways to connect Follow us on X and Instagram Follow Tyler on X Follow Peter on X Sign up for our newsletter Join our Discord Email us: cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu Learn more about Conversations with Tyler and other Mercatus Center podcasts here.
Conversations with Tyler is produced by the Mercatus center at George Mason University, bridging the gap between academic ideas and real world problems.
Learn more@mercatus.org dot for a full transcript of every conversation, enhanced with helpful links, visit conversationswithtyler.com.
hello, Peter.
Thank you for doing this.
Hello, Tyler.
Now, the title of this conversation is political theology.
That was a phrase I think first used by the russian anarchist Bakunin to mock the italian nationalist Mazzini.
German legal theorist Carl Schmitt then picked it up and said, it's something that everyone needs.
They all need a political theology.
What does the term mean to you?
Well, it's a bit of a fuzzy, broad concept, but maybe sort of to motivate it as a contrast, I think that in late modernity, we're often living in this world of hyper specialization where you can't think about the big picture.
And it's sort of like, I don't know, it's like Adam Smith's pin factory on steroids is sort of our world.
And I think there is some way that we have to try to integrate all these different facets of our life to try to make progress.
What political philosophy does, that's what political theology does.
The reasons these sorts of things were abandoned, you know, I think maybe it's already was like the enlightenment sort of abandoned it from, you know, and one type of reason it was abandoned was because it's too hard to figure this stuff out, or it's just a sort of fool's errand.
I'm inclined to think the other reason was it was often seen as too dangerous, too divisive.
You're not supposed to have debates about religion.
We settled that in 1648 of the Treaty of Westphalia.
Going to forget about it and not talk about these things.
And I think that might have been a reasonable compromise in the 18th century.