You can be horrified by the state of the prisons, the misery in certain neighborhoods of its cities, or their level of poverty. Anti-Americanism, by which I mean a hatred for America as such-its transformation into a metaphysical category, which incarnates all the evil in the world-is one of fascism's favorite themes. Look at writer and political theorist Charles Maurras in France. The philosopher Martin Heidegger in Germany. The radical Islamists of today!

Europe has certainly lost confidence in itself. This was something that, when I was a young man, we never imagined would happen.

Even if it doesn't sound like it at first, that's an identity that Europe can go out into the world with and take a leading role.

I don't really believe in dialogue; I am too Nietzschean for that. We need to have a warrior conception of philosophy.

The euro is a great achievement. It's a symbolic achievement. But, the European constitution was a missed opportunity.

People always think that loyalty is laudable. People are always saying that we must remain faithful to tradition, to family, to our class, to our ideas. Of course not! That would be equivalent to zero brain activity. If you really want to think, to seek truth, to advance intellectually, you must turn your back on clichés, on preconceived ideas - even those belonging to your spiritual family. For an intellectual, his true duty is not to fidelity, but to infidelity.

Islamic terrorists are new examples of an old problem with fascism.