Telos is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes articles on politics, philosophy, and critical theory, with a particular focus on contemporary political, social, and cultural issues.
Established in May 1968 by Paul Piccone and fellow students at SUNY-Buffalo with the intention of providing the New Left with a coherent theoretical perspective, the journal, which has long considered itself heterodox, has been described as turning to the right politically beginning in the 1980s.
The journal's masthead lists its editor as David Tse-Chien Pan and its editor emeritus as Russell A. Berman. Piccone died of cancer in 2004 at age 64.
History
The journal was established by Paul Piccone and fellow working-class philosophy students in May 1968 at SUNY-Buffalo, though it was never formally associated with SUNY or any other university. Elisabeth K. Chaves writes that "this non-institutionalization, in academia or elsewhere, helped keep the journal distinct from other positions within the [intellectual] field, and it reveals a kinship to artists within the field of cultural production that choose to practice 'art for art's sake,' disdaining the economic and political power found at the dominant pole." In a 1971 pamphlet, in reference to its heterodoxy, members of the Chicago Surrealist Group said Telos conference organizers were "capable only of promoting the peaceful coexistence of various modes of confusion".
thumb|Poster from the Telos website describing the journal's development.
Over time, Telos became increasingly critical of the Left in general, with a reevaluation of 20th century intellectual history, including focuses on Carl Schmitt, This led to a reevaluation of the primacy of culture and to efforts to understand the dynamics of cultural disintegration and reintegration as a precondition for the constitution of that autonomous individuality critical theory had always identified as the telos of Western civilization.
During the journal's "conservative turn" in the 1980s, many editorial board members, including Jürgen Habermas, left Telos. The academic Joan Braune writes that one cause for the resignations was Piccone's support of the United States intervention in Nicaragua.
thumb|Advertisement for 1994 Telos conference "Populism and the New Politics"
European New Right figures such as Alain de Benoist were key contributors to Telos in the 1990s. Piccone asserted that the French New Right had incorporated "95 percent of standard New Left ideas". Their ethnonationalist ideas later influenced the alt-right. The audience "shifted uncomfortably in their seats and chuckled in embarrassment" when Francis said the 1947 anti-austerity riots targeting Jews in England were an authentic form of populism to embrace, as recalled by Lowndes. According to Chaves, the journal "always maintained a critical distance from any party or political movement."
The journal is published by Telos Press Publishing and the editor-in-chief is David Pan. It is affiliated with the Telos Institute, which hosts annual conferences, select papers from which are published in Telos.
Abstracting and indexing
The journal is abstracted and indexed in the Social Sciences Citation Index, Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Current Contents/Social & Behavioral Sciences, and Current Contents/Arts & Humanities. According to the Journal Citation Reports, the journal has a 2023 impact factor of 0.1.
Telos Press Publishing<!--'Telos Press Publishing' and 'Telos Press' redirect here-->
Telos Press Publishing<!--boldface per WP:R#PLA--> was founded by Paul Piccone, the first editor-in-chief of Telos, and is the publisher of both the journal Telos as well as a separate book line. It is based in Candor, New York.