Scott Ritner

Scott B. Ritner

His book, Revolutionary Pessimism: Simone Weil's Antifascist Politics is forthcoming in 2026 with Stanford University Press. In the book, he argues that the antifascist philosopher and mystic Simone Weil’s critical writings about the social crises of the mid-twentieth century, especially fascism, are particularly instructive for today. Now, as then, liberal democratic capitalist states are under threat from authoritarian leaders and fascist movements. Situating Weil and her work in the tradition of pessimistic critical theory, Ritner reveals how Weil’s work can be understood as participating in an ongoing project critique of capitalist and liberal, neoliberal, and fascist modes of domination. This novel interpretation of Weil’s work argues for reading her combined anarchist, Marxian, anti-racist, anti-colonial, and Platonic approaches to political thought holistically alongside her mystical Christianity and Judaism as a singular antifascist project in which pessimism is given political prominence. Taking up Weil’s critiques of the State, the organization of labor, the use and effects of violence, and the ideology of revolution, Ritner mobilizes Weil’s idiosyncratic antifascist politics towards a conceptual framework he calls "revolutionary pessimism”—defined as root-and-branch political action without expectation. As Ritner persuades, the revolutionary pessimism perceivable in Weil’s writing can reorient antifascism from a defensive political posture to an offensive posture of generative permanent revolt.

Ritner joined the Political Science department at CU in 2022 following appointments at SUNY Potsdam (2021-2022) and Temple University (2018-2021). He earned his PhD from The New School for Social Research in 2018. He teaches classes in Political Theory, Comparative Politics, and US Politics.

He served as President (2022-2025) and Vice President (2019-2022) of the American Weil Society https://simoneweilsociety.org/. 

When not researching or teaching, you can [try to] find him in the mountains.