When Reason Goes on Holiday

Neven Sesardic sets out to show that leading philosophers, for all their stress on logic, clarity and reason, have shown a surprising degree of irrationality in politics. The core of the book analyzes the extreme leftist views of several famous philosophers and their occasional slide into apology for totalitarian politics, and sometimes into taking part in it. Most episodes are little known, even to philosophers. Sesardic asks how so many leading figures of twentieth-century philosophy, rigorous in their own work, came to back some of the most murderous regimes. He sees the field's strong leftist bias as only part of the answer, arguing that brilliance and high standing made them surer of themselves and less careful, not safer from error.

Speaking on a 2023 podcast, Marc Andreessen said that other books cover the topic but this newer one is really good.