Apocalypse without revelation?

Prophecy and criticism in Mangabeira Unger

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to debate the relationship between prophetic vision and critique of ideologies in the thought of brazilian philosopher Roberto Mangabeira Unger. We will try to demonstrate how the messianic promise structures Unger's work and differentiates it from other works related to Critical Legal Studies (a movement he helped to found). Modernity secularized the Biblical-Christian Theology of History, interpreting this as the last moment in the human trajectory, within the framework of an eschatological panel. Thus, the Apocalypse is always present in our field of vision – although, unlike the religion Salvation Stories, our Armageddon is not succeeded by a utopia, a time of forgiveness and reconciliation for pious men. Now, if dystopian and post-apocalyptic fictions are configured in the most complete translations of Zeitgeist, Unger's millenarian utopianism (secularized) imposes itself as a consistent counter-hegemonic canon. At first, we will approach the nihilism that configures late capitalism, and that engenders “false needs” (in Unger's terminology). Afterwards, we will show how Critical Legal Studies ended up being tarnished with an anti-utopian logic. Finally, we will discuss, taking as main reference the book The Religion of Future, about the prophetic visions of/in Unger.