Mathias Thaler

Professor of Political Theory, University of Edinburgh

Category: News and Events

  • Book talk at Uppsala University

    On October 8, 2024, I will be giving a book talk in the Department of History of Science and Ideas at Uppsala University. This event will feature both No Other Planet (2022) and Brett Christopher’s excellent new book The Price is Wrong (2024). More information, including the place and time of the event, can be…

  • Notes from my inaugural lecture

    Below are some of the (slightly edited) thoughts I shared during my inaugural lecture as Professor at the University of Edinburgh on May 8, 2024. These reflections pertain to my academic trajectory and to making my intellectual home in Edinburgh. I hope to publish the more academic part of the lecture in another forum. Making…

  • New Review of No Other Planet

    The Review of Politics has just published a review of No Other Planet, by Nicole Rogers (Bond University.) The link to the full text is here: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0034670524000123 And here is a short excerpt: “Drawing upon the utopian trope as manifested in theory and fiction, Thaler tackles the difficult question of how we can shape a…

  • Sabbatical plans

    I am lucky enough to have been granted research leave for the Academic Year 2024/25. To support my research during that period, I will spend the autumn term (September to December 2024) at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study (SCAS), in Uppsala; and the spring term (February to June 2025) at the Netherlands Institute for…

  • Inaugural Lecture

    I will hold my inaugural lecture as Professor at the University of Edinburgh on May 8, 2024. The registration for the event is here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/inaugural-lecture-professor-mathias-thaler-tickets-710213175727 And here is a short abstract of the lecture: Stuck in the Anthropocene interregnum? Imagination and action in a climate-changed world In this lecture, I plan to introduce my overall…

  • WJM Mackenzie Prize

    No Other Planet has been shortlisted for the PSA WJM Mackenzie Prize 2023. The award is given each year to the best book in the entire field of political studies, not just political theory. More information on the other shortlisted nominees can be found here: https://www.psa.ac.uk/psa/news/mackenzie-book-prize-2023/24-shortlist-announced

  • Paper now out in print

    My paper “Eco-Miserabilism and Radical Hope” is now out in print with the American Political Science Review. You can find it open access here: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/ecomiserabilism-and-radical-hope-on-the-utopian-vision-of-postapocalyptic-environmentalism/FC59FF8147EDFAADBBE6097FFBA6EFD8

  • New Review of Naming Violence

    Eric Ross (University of Massachusetts Amherst) has just published a generous review of book Naming Violence (2018). Here is an excerpt from the insightful text: “In Naming Violence, Mathias Thaler presents a compelling and novel framework to further understand the interdependence between language and our collective conceptualization of political violence. Thaler’s primary intervention is that the…

  • Call for Papers: Utopia and Failure (II) – Newcastle, September 10-11, 2024

    Check out the CfP for the second event of our AHRC Networking grant: https://failingbetter.sps.ed.ac.uk/workshops/second-workshop-in-newcastle The deadline for applying is December 5, 2023.

  • New Paper

    A new paper of mine has just been published (online first) in New Political Science. The full bibliographic information is here: Thaler, Mathias “Utopia, Breakdown, Repair: Failure and Success in Social Dreaming.” New Political Science, 2023 (online first), 1–17. Abstract: A common charge against utopianism is that any attempt to create blueprints for a better future disregards…