The Metaphysics of Brexit

Finlayson, Alan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3939-349X (2019) The Metaphysics of Brexit. Third Text, 32 (5-6). pp. 598-604. ISSN 0952-8822

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Abstract

In this article, I consider Brexit as the expression of a more general ideology – Brexitism – which I explore through commentary upon a series of quotations drawn from speeches, newspapers, propaganda material and social media. This method is appropriate because Brexitism is itself a kind of quotation – a repetition of half-remembered actual and fictional past political gestures – which allude to something deeper. Exploring fragments which illustrate three different elements of Brexitist ideology – Heroism, Time and Distinction – I suggest that these can be read as expressions of an underlying, dynamic and ‘productive’ conceptual field, similar to what Max Weber described as a ‘stand toward the world’. This is the ‘metaphysics of Brexit’ apart from which it cannot be fully understood.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Issue: Lost in Europe: In the Wake of Britain’s Inner Emigration
Uncontrolled Keywords: alan finlayson,brexit,brexitism,political ideologies,political ideas,political rhetoric,weber,ukip,farage,conservatism,alt-right
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication Studies
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Policy & Politics
Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Cultural Politics, Communications & Media
Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Political, Social and International Studies
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Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 03 Dec 2018 16:31
Last Modified: 21 Jul 2023 09:50
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/69147
DOI: 10.1080/09528822.2018.1548834

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