Wendy R. Simon, a lecturer at the Institute for Culture and Thought at UIC, took part from 7–9 September in the international conference "Philosophical Roots of Nazism", held at the Faculty of Philosophy and Educational Sciences of the Universitat de València.

The conference, organised by the Kant societies of Germany and Valencia and attended by researchers from around the world, examined the theoretical foundations of National Socialism and critically analysed its philosophical sources and their influence on contemporary politics and culture. The programme paid particular attention to classical German philosophy and to the intellectual connections running from Kant to Heidegger.

Within this framework, Dr Simon presented the paper "From Enlightenment to Authoritarianism: The Philosophical Preconditions of Nazism and the Limits of Political Theology in the United States", in which she compares two traditions derived from the Enlightenment: that of Kant, which subjects religion to moral reason, and that of Locke, which preserves the autonomy of revelation.

Drawing on this contrast, she analyses how these two philosophical legacies help explain, on the one hand, the intellectual foundations of the authoritarian and "redemptive" politics associated with Nazism and, on the other, the constraints that hindered a similar consolidation in the United States.

The research also examines how the relationship between religion and political power can change within society. The author argues that secularisation does not simply mean that religion disappears from the public sphere; rather, it is transformed, affecting politics in a different way. "The argument, therefore, is that secularisation is not limited to removing theology from politics. Secularisation can reorder the authority of theology by altering what political power is legitimately entitled to do," she explains.

In this context, Dr Simon distinguishes between political power that guarantees security, rights and coexistence among people with differing views, and power that seeks to align society as a whole with a single ideology. "A government may protect people and the conditions necessary for plural coexistence, but it can never claim the right to transform them in order to regenerate an imagined collective subject," she states.

Featuring three simultaneous sessions each day in German, English and Spanish, the conference provided a forum for reflection on the relationship between philosophy and political power. It sought to deepen understanding of the intellectual antecedents of National Socialism and to contribute, through research, to a critical understanding of its legacy.