The Genealogy of National Socialism

National Socialism did not emerge in an intellectual vacuum, nor can its philosophical structure be adequately understood through political history alone. While the NSDAP has been extensively examined as a historical entity, the philosophical tradition that shaped its worldview has received far less examination. In The Genealogy of National Socialism, Jake Leone traces the development, transformation, and systematization of the ideas that formed National Socialist philosophy over more than a century. Focusing on figures such as Johann Gottfried Herder, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Ernst Moritz Arndt, Friedrich List, Richard Wagner, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, and the Völkisch movement, this work examines how concepts of nationhood, moral duty, organic community, culture, and destiny were gradually reorganized into a coherent worldview. This book presents a philosophical genealogy that situates National Socialism within a longstanding European intellectual tradition and examines its evolution into a synthesized and coherent system of thought.