Uriel Abulof receives 2021 Discourse Initiative Research Grant

A 2021 Discourse Initiative Research Grant offered by The Institute for Humane Studies, has been awarded to Uriel Abulof, Israel Institute Visiting Professor at Cornell University Department of .

Abulof's research argues that humanity currently undergoes its midlife crisis – we are lucky yet unhappy – and explores why and what can we do about it. In the grand, statistical scheme of things, humanity has never fared better. Overall, people live longer, fight less, and produce much more. A healthier, happier life seems within our grasp. And yet, for many, in poor and prosperous societies alike, all this objective goodness seems to slip through the fingers, which occasionally clench into a raging fist – often raised against the very generator of global peace and prosperity in our age: liberal democracy. This paradox underlines the current deadlock of liberalism, and “political existentialism” holds the key to unlock it. Liberalism’s deadlock emanates from late modernity’s impasse of purpose and happiness. Humanity is now undergoing an existential “midlife crisis.” We see ever clearer the abyss of dread and death. At the same time, we turn away from our collective horizon: the meeting of the earthly “is” and the heavenly “ought.” Lacking a factual-moral horizon, we are losing mental ground, moral face, and our sense of collective self. Decoding liberalism’s deadlock, however, may help renew hope, and revive our politics.

The Discourse Initiative is a series of conversations—in-person and written—aimed at drawing scholarly attention back to the broad intellectual tradition of liberalism. As part of this initiative, IHS offers faculty grants of $5,000-$25,000 to support major research projects that hold significant promise of advancing a deeper understanding of ideas within the liberal tradition. These grants may be used to underwrite direct expenses; pay research assistants, editors, or other contractors; or buy out time.

IHS supports a diverse collection of faculty members across a wide range of academic disciplines within the humanities and social sciences. Qualifying fields of study include economics, political science, philosophy, PPE, law, history, sociology, business, psychology, literature, the visual and performing arts, and related disciplines in the social sciences and humanities.

Uriel Abulof is an associate professor at Tel-Aviv University’s School of Political Science, and International Affairs. He is a LISD research fellow at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School and at the Truman Institute. Starting fall 2019, Abulof is an Israel Institute Visiting Professor at Cornell’s Department of . Abulof studies the politics of fear, happiness and hope, legitimation, social movements, existentialism, nationalism and ethnic conflicts.

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