En ce terrible XXe siècle, celui du nihilisme achevé, du déferlement technique, des totalitarismes, de la Shoah, se soucier du monde, c'est nécessairement se trouver confronté à la question du politique dans toute sa radicalité : comment penser ou refonder dans l'immanence une communauté politique et cosmopolitique, une "société bonne", dont l'unité et la cohérence demeurent respectueuses de la pluralité? C'est en confrontant les regards et les interrogations de trois protagonistes principaux qui appartiennent à la même génération - Hannah Arendt, (...) Leo Strauss, Eric Voegelin que Sylvie Courtine-Denamy tire et renoue les fils de leurs dialogues respectifs, souvent tendus ou conflictuels, autour de la question : "Qu'est-ce que la politique?" Pris tous les trois dans "l'étau théologico-politique", ils se sont attachés à dénouer puis à reproblématiser, dans l'horizon de la vie bonne et de la question du bonheur, les liens complexes entre judaïsme et histoire, religions et politiques. Puissent leurs "réponses" croisées, souvent désabusées et toujours contextualisées, ouvrir quelques pistes en ce début d'un nouveau siècle qui connaît la surenchère de tous les fondamentalistes. (shrink)

O quarto volume da obra "Ordem e História" de Eric Voegelin, intitulado de "A Era Ecumênica", marca a última mudança no pensamento do filósofo alemão. Voegelin rejeita uma concepção linear da história e sugere que as "irrupções espirituais" das civilizações se tornem o objeto de análise para identificar a "ordem da história". A partir disso, Voegelin rejeita os sistemas imanentistas da modernidade, notadamente, ideologias, como "revoltas egofânicas" que trazem desequilíbrio no Intermédio ou "metaxia" entre o cosmos e (...) o além. O objetivo do presente artigo é identificar a concepção de história e a crítica às ideologias modernas na obra "A Era Ecumênica" de Eric Voegelin. Adota-se metodologia exploratória e abordagem qualitativa na investigação do objetivo proposto. O trabalho conclui que, apesar da importante crítica voegiliniana à perda de fundamento transcendente da política moderna, a filosofia política do "último Voegelin" de "A Era Ecumênica" tem pouco a dizer sobre a política concreta, revelando-se uma filosofia da consciência apolítica em sentido normativo. (shrink)

A proposta deste estudo é abordar de forma teórica o pensamento do filósofo e cientista político, germano-americano, Eric Voegelin, buscando compreender a relação que promove entre o gnosticismo e a modernidade, tendo como foco sua afirmação de que o gnosticismo é o fundamento da modernidade. Para esta pesquisa, são utilizados como base teórica fundamental dois conceitos de sua teoria: religiões políticas e gnosticismo. Divide-se o trabalho em uma introdução ao tema e três capítulos, seguidos da conclusão. Na introdução, se (...) aborda o contexto histórico-político que fornece o estofo para o surgimento da modernidade e movimentos totalitários; com a biografia do autor, buscam-se elementos essenciais para a compreensão de sua posição de combate irrestrito às ideologias, principalmente ao nacional-socialismo alemão e socialismo stalinista. A partir da crítica ao movimento positivista, que considera a ciência natural e seus métodos o modo por excelência de apreensão da realidade, Voegelin demonstra que a dimensão simbólica, espiritual e transcendente do ser fica relegada a uma posição inferior, inexistente ou banalizada, causando uma deformação da verdade, que pode se manifestar em dogmas ou doutrinas ideológicas. No segundo capítulo, introduz-se sua noção de que o gnosticismo é o fundamento da sociedade moderna, na medida em que a insatisfação com a ordem corrente, a crença e desejo de mudança do indivíduo por meio do conhecimento, se firmam como contrários ao desenvolvimento do ser, apontando uma tendência nos movimentos ideológicos modernos à imanentização da escatologia cristã. No terceiro capítulo, apresentam-se as principais discussões a respeito dos limites e alcances de sua teoria, sua aproximação com uma filosofia da consciência e as possibilidades de utilizá-la para a compreensão dos fenômenos totalitários na atualidade, vistos como uma doença pneumopatológica. Concluiu-se que Voegelin, categórico ao apontar para a necessidade de uma nova abordagem para a ciência social e política, evidenciou uma estrutura religiosa nos movimentos modernos, ditos seculares; o conceito de gnosticismo como fundamento da modernidade, apesar de revisto pelo próprio autor e ainda fomentar controvérsias, pode ser um ponto de partida para estudos complementares, uma vez que enfatiza a necessidade de ampliação da consciência para a restauração da ordem social e política, e de incluir o aspecto transcendente do ser, que se expressa em seus símbolos e em suas experiências religiosas ao longo da história, para a compreensão da modernidade. (shrink)

El siglo XX planteó a los filósofos la demanda de una filosofía de la historia. Los historiadores que concibieron historias universales con el fin de entender la crisis de la civilización occidental fueronestudiosos tales como Arnold Toynbee, Pitirim Sorokin, Christopher Dawson, Lewis Mumford y William McNeilP. Los grandes filósofos que respondieron a semejante demanda, Martin Heidegger, Karl Jaspersy Eric Voegelin. Este texto propone una comparación entre los dos últimos. Al igual que Heidegger, ambos comprendieron la historia enun sentido ontológico.

Voegelin's project was to develop a theory of social action and of political order. This enterprise involved an analysis of human experiences of participation in reality. The analysis of experience led Voegelin to a theory of consciousness, understood as the human mode of participation. According to Voegelin, every society attempts to order its institutional life in light of its experience of participation; it is this process that constitutes history. Through symbols, each society articulates its experiences and thereby (...) endows its own order with meaning in terms human and divine. Social life, then, is more than a matter of meeting practical needs; it is also a matter of attunement to the truth of order, i.e., the structure of reality. Thus, at the heart of Voegelin's work is the relationship between the order of reality apprehended in consciousness and the concrete social orders which attempt to embody that order. The question of social change arises when one asks to what degree any society is capable of realizing the truth of order in its institutions and practices. ;The first three chapters situate Voegelin's understanding of society within the context of his thought on reality and consciousness. A fourth chapter emphasizes that the history of attunement is always potentially a history of derailment. Chapters 5 and 6 trace the struggle for order in Israel and Hellas. Given the tension that attends the struggle for attunement, Chapter 7 considers to what extent Voegelin believes social change is possible. A final chapter considers the "resolution" of the problem through Voegelin's emphasis on history as differentiation of consciousness and the vision of transfiguration pointing beyond problems of order. I will also consider how Voegelin's cognitional framework influences his resolution of these issues; in particular how his distinction between consciousness as luminous and as intentional introduces ambiguities into his analysis of society and social change. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Journal of the History of Ideas 63.1 (2002) 151-171 [Access article in PDF] Eric Voegelin on Nazi Political Extremism Clifford F. Porter Eric Voegelin (1901-1985) is not as well known among historians as he is among political theorists, yet he has had a continuing influence on both German Social Democrat and Christian Democrat political leaders. His early life is very much a reflection of both the intellectual (...) developments and the chaos of Germany and Austria between the wars. Voegelin's analysis of Nazism is worth revisiting by historians because it delineated the Nazi rationale for the Holocaust in the early 1930s, even if the Nazis themselves had yet to move towards mass murder early in the regime. Voegelin was not prescient enough to predict the extent of the Holocaust, but he understood that the ideological rationale of Nazi violence was unlimited. Furthermore, his description of political extremism as Gnosticism in 1952 is valid for explaining why an individual might support the Nazis and then voluntarily commit extraordinarily vicious acts to try to realize the dream-world of the Third Reich.The political, economic, and social chaos in Austria after World War I was the catalyst for the young Eric Voegelin's studies of the essence of ideologies and the ideologists who promoted them from both the left and right wing. As National Socialism grew, so did his experiences with and understanding of extremist political ideologies. Contemporary intellectual debates between neo-Kantian and existentialist methodology, however, did not help penetrate to the essential causes of political extremism. His experiences in America in the mid-1920s were essential for his development away from what he characterized as narrow methodological provincialism to an empiricism open to philosophic questions, including spiritual questions. By 1938 he had theorized that ideologies were political secular religions that substituted the state for divine reality.Because of this interpretation, Voegelin's approach to totalitarianism has been characterized as an outdated ersatz religion model, better suited for the Cold War. 1 The ersatz religion model worked reasonably well to describe similarities [End Page 151] the National Socialist movement had with religions, but Voegelin recognized that it did not penetrate to the essence of ideologies. His understanding of ideologies matured after World War II into his theory that ideologies were Gnostic quests for absolute certainty that caused alienation from reality.Voegelin thought that the search for certainty ultimately required excluding any evidence to the contrary of the ideology; therefore, ideologies limited the individual's view of human reality to the immediate world. Furthermore, although ideologies are founded on a kernel of truth—e.g., proletarians are sometimes oppressed—ideologists become quickly alienated from reality as a consequence of their own quest for certainty about meaning in existence. The consequences of alienation are that ideologists pursue the perceived immanent good and try to eliminate the perceived immanent evil, thereby rationalizing criminality and even murder. Violence is inherent to extremist political ideologies. Background and Influences: Weber, Kraus, University, and America Eric Voegelin was born in 1901 and grew up in Vienna. After the war Austria was convulsed by political and social crises ranging from attempted reactionary and Communist coups to constant food shortages. In the first post-war election Voegelin's political and social inclinations led him to vote for the Social Democratic Party (SDP), but he was aggravated by the uncompromising Marxist rhetoric of the SDP leadership. In this atmosphere Voegelin began his long journey toward understanding ideologies, but first he had to work through many different political and philosophic problems before he arrived at an adequate understanding. The intellectuals that influenced him during this long process were diverse, but they shared a hostility to ideologies.The first important academic influence on Voegelin was Max Weber. 2 Weber encouraged intellektuelle Rechtschaffenheit (intellectual honesty) with others and especially with oneself. Weber insisted on following an ethic of responsibility for one's actions (Verantwortungsethik), rather than making apologies for following an ethic of good intentions (Gesinnungsethik). The latter, Weber feared, was often used to justify bad consequences of well-intended actions. 3 These simple... (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:WHAT VOEGELIN MISSED IN THE GOSPEL John J. Ranieri Seton Hall University Violence and order are the themes that structure Voegelin's work. From the early writings composed in response to the emergence of National Socialism to the closing years ofhis life in which he confessed to a "perhaps misplaced sensitivity towards murder"1 as the primary catalyst for his philosophical pursuits, Voegelin is preoccupied with the relationship (...) between the good of order and the violence that can both undermine and preserve that order. His theory of consciousness, his philosophy of history, and his "new science ofpolitics" form a complementary whole when understood as expressions of his lifelong concern to find ways to guard against social and political chaos. This preoccupation with order makes Voegelin especially wary of any social, political, or religious movements which, in his view, contribute to the dissolution ofsocial stability. It is in this context that his uneasy relationship with the Bible must be understood. While acknowledging the importance of the Jewish and Christian scriptures in the historical unfolding of the differentiation ofthe divine Beyond, Voegelin also maintains that many of the forces of disorder in modern society have been generated within their orbit.2 The dazzling intensity ofthe encounter with the biblical God can lead to dissatisfaction with life in this world, resulting in reactions of either withdrawal from the surrounding culture or the more immediately de- '"Autobiographical Statement at Age 82" in 77¡e Beginning and the Beyond: Papersfrom the Gadamer and Voegelin Conferences (117). 2See Order and History, vol. 1, Israel and Revelation (xii-xiv); Order and History, vol. 4, The Ecumenic Age (20, 27); "The Gospel and Culture," in The Collected Works ofEric Voegelin,vo\. 12, Published Essays, 1966-1985(200-210). 126John J. Ranieri structive alternative of trying, by whatever means necessary, to bring a recalcitrant society into conformity with the divine perfection. As revelation of the "God beyond the gods" the Old and New Testaments are unsurpassable expressions ofthe transcendent source of order. At the same time, they are the seedbeds in which social upheaval easily germinates. As generators of both order and disorder, few biblical books have been as influential as the four gospels. It is Voegelin's treatment ofthese texts that will be my concern here. The ambiguity ofVoegelin's relationship to the gospels is reflected in the twofold meaning ofthe word "missed" in the title ofthis essay. In the first place, the word can be understood as referring to Voegelin's critique ofthe gospels; to speak ofwhat Voegelin "missed" in this sense is to focus on that which he finds lacking in them (yet wishes were there). My primary interest, however, is on the meaning ofthe word as indicating that which Voegelin fails to understand about the gospels. The two meanings are related; for it is in Voegelin's criticism of the gospels that we can detect the manner in which he misunderstands them. In order to make this clear, it is necessary to say something about his evaluation and critique; only then will it be possible to raise relevant questions about his approach. After summarizing Voegelin's perspective on the gospels, I introduce the thought of René Girard as possible counterpoint. This is followed by a comparison of Voegelin and Girard with regard to their understanding ofthe gospel texts. A concluding section offers reflections on Voegelin's evaluation ofthe gospels. I realize that there is little to be gained from finding fault with a thinker for not doing what it was never his intention to do in the first place. At times, some of Voegelin's Christian critics succumb to this tendency when they berate him for what they consider to be his failure to satisfy the litmus test of Christian orthodoxy.3 Apart from the difficulty of defining Christian orthodoxy, these kinds of charges overlook the fact that Voegelin does not consider himself to be a Christian theologian, and that his "concern with 3 Of course, the question as to whether Voegelin's philosophy is adequate as a foundation for Christian theology may be an important one for the theologian to consider. But Voegelin does not see himself as providing such a foundation. For critics... (shrink)

RESUMO: O artigo examina três teses atribuídas por Eric Voegelin (1901-1985) a Joaquim de Fiore (1162-1205), que estão na base da elaboração do chamado gnosticismo político. São elas: a tese do imanentismo histórico ou da redivinização da sociedade, a do fim do cristianismo e a do simbolismo gnóstico da política moderna. Entre os resultados, destacamos que o imanentismo histórico se baseia em uma espécie de maniqueísmo ao afirmar que a providência divina não mais atua no curso da história, do (...) que resulta que o mundo não tem mais sentido e significado. Em segundo lugar, destacamos que o fim do cristianismo, atribuído ao pensamento joaquimita com base na supervalorização do estado espiritual e do Evangelho eterno, apenas se sustenta a partir da aceitação de que a teoria trinitária de Joaquim de Fiore acentua a tríade pessoal em detrimento da unidade. Por fim, destacamos que a simbólica do gnosticismo político também carrega as mesmas distorções projetadas na Filosofia da História do abade, as quais se derivam em grande medida da leitura deficitária do seu pensamento trinitário. (shrink)

Résumé Placée sous le signe d’une restauration de la science politique pour l’époque moderne, la pensée de Voegelin tourne autour du concept de représentation, dont elle renouvelle complètement le sens en le reconduisant aux conditions d’existence d’une société politique. On peut estimer que la confrontation avec la théorie hobbesienne de la personne civile en est l’épicentre. Cet essai s’efforce de restituer cette confrontation, en faisant ressortir l’ambivalence sur laquelle elle repose : le double visage de Hobbes, jugé d’un côté (...) responsable de la théorie abstraite de la représentation qui triomphe depuis le xvii e siècle, de l’autre résistant héroïque au déclin spirituel de la modernité, s’efforçant de forger un nouveau corpus mysticum dans un contexte où l’institution ecclésiale ne joue plus le rôle de garant. Plus radicalement, à travers la lecture voegelinienne de Hobbes, c’est le sens de ce que le christianisme fait subir à l’ épistémé politiké classique qui est soumis à l’examen. En reconstituant cette lecture, on fait apparaître pour finir les difficultés sur lesquelles Voegelin vient buter, dans la tâche restauratrice qu’il assigne à la pensée moderne tout entière. (shrink)

A partir da experiência quotidiana do direito, Eric Voegelin penetra pela sua superfície fenome­nal para averiguar da existência de um núcleo ontológico. Fiel à tomista possibilidade do conhe­cimento modesto de coisas supremas, primeiro considera que o direito é mera consequência da sociedade, porquanto a ordem jurídica deriva da ordem da sociedade, para, em seguida, considerar a ordem da sociedade proveniente de um todo maior e anterior à mesma: a ordem do mundo que se identifica com a própria ordem do (...) ser. Em Voegelin, o direito é entendido como tendo por natureza ontológica a estrutura da sociedade cujo direito a sociedade é, e como tendo por critério a relação do homem com o ser tal como nós podemos sabê-lo através da filosofia e da revelação, num exemplo moderno de filosofar ao estilo clássico. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:538 BOOK REVIEWS pressing my admiration for his work and for the wealth of sensibility he brings to the interpretation of a most difficult thinker. Anyone who is seriously interested in Wittgenstein's thought on ethics and religion should encounter the mind of Cyril Barrett through this volume. Hendrix College Conway, Arkansas JOHN CHURCHILL Faith and Political Philosophy: The Correspondence Between Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin, 1934-1964. Trans. and (...) ed. by PETER EMBERLEY and BARRY COOPER. University Park, Penn.: The Penn· sylvania State University Press, 1993. Pp. xxvi + 368. $45.00 (Cloth). Those of us who have followed the development of Leo Strauss's and Eric Voegelin's thought with passionate interest over the years owe a debt of gratitude to Professors Peter Emberley of Carleton University, Ottawa, and Barry Cooper of the University of Calgary for presenting us with yet another opportunity to reflect upon certain well defined aspects of the thinking of these important political philosophers, and to confirm views that we have long held about the cordial relationship that existed between these two men, despite frequent reports to the contrary. Prefaced by an insightful "Introduction" by Emberley and Cooper, which almost constitutes a commentary on the correspondence, Faith and Political Philosophy is divided into three parts. In Part One, the editors present us with their English translation of the fifty-two extant letters (a few letters appear to have been lost) exchanged between Strauss and Voegelin during the years 1934 to 1964. (For the most part, Strauss and Voegelin corresponded with one another in German.) Because Strauss wrote most, if not all, of his letters longhand, the editors inform us that some passages from Strauss's letters were especially difficult to decipher, and that, on occasion, they had to have re· course to German-speaking persons familiar with the German academic idiom of the 1930s and '40s in order to make sense of what was said. Voegelin, it seems, also had trouble decoding Strauss's handwriting, and admits on one occasion to being unable to read the writing or make sense of Strauss's point. By contrast, Voegelin, we are told, was very much easier to transcribe, since his letters, although, on average, longer than Strauss's, were typewritten. Part Two contains four essays, two by each of the philosophers, on the relationship of reason to reve- BOOK REVIEWS 539 lation-a central theme of the letters, a theme that is explicitly addressed in the letters dating from the late 1940s and early 1950s, and tacitly present in much of the remaining correspondence that is of an academic nature. This theme also attracts the attention of all of the commentators in Part Three, and is plainly the source of the title for the book. All four essays are familiar to Strauss-Voegelin scholars, having been published in various venues. And, finally, Part Three is a collection of eight commentaries on the correspondence by recog· nized scholars, some of whom are frankly famous in academic circles and beyond (e.g., H. G. Gadamer, who, for my tastes, should have had more to say about Voegelin). These commentaries are generally of a very high quality, although curiously, given the theme, most of the commentators seem to be more attuned to modern reference points rather than to the ancient ones with which both Strauss and Voegelin were often in dialogue. The effect of this is particularly noticeable with respect to observations made about Voegelin. Voegelin frequently saw himself in debate with the fathers of the early Church (as his piece " The Gospel and Culture " bears witness), and unfortunately this is not obvious from these commentaries. Still, while exploring the im· plications of the positions taken by Strauss and Voegelin in light of their formally published writing, the commentators make many interesting and, ~t times, controversial observations about one or both of the letter-writers. In this brief review, we will limit ourselves to commenting solely on parts One and Three. This said, perhaps we might open with a general observation about the nature of the correspondence as a whole. As one might expect, the content of the correspondence between Strauss and Voegelin is by no means solely academic and... (shrink)

Values and the scope of scientific inquiry, by M. Farber.--The phenomenology of epistemic claims: and its bearing on the essence of philosophy, by R. M. Zaner.--Problems of the Life-World, by A. Gurwitsch.--The Life-World and the particular sub-worlds, by W. Marx.--On the boundaries of the social world, by T. Luckmann.--Alfred Schutz on social reality and social science, by M. Natanson.--Homo oeconomicus and his class mates, by F. Machlup.--Toward a science of political economics, by A. Lowe.--Some notes on reality-orientation in contemporary societies, (...) by A. Brodersen.--The eclipse of reality, by E. Voegelin.--Alienation in Marx's Political economy and philosophy, by P. Merlan.--The problem of multiple realities: Alfred Schutz and Robert Musil, by P. L. Berger.--Phenomenology, history, myth, by F. Kersten.--The role of music in Leonardo's Paragone, by E. Winternitz.--Alfred Schutz bibliography (p. [297]-306). (shrink)

Peut-on faire de Platon l’ancêtre des régimes totalitaires? Aussi surprenante qu’elle puisse paraître, cette question s’est posée avec une certaine intensité dans l’histoire de la pensée au lendemain de la seconde guerre mondiale. Cet article entend donner un aperçu de ces débats en confrontant la critique par Bertrand Russell, Karl Popper et Hans Kelsen de l’auteur de La République, à sa défense par Eric Voegelin, ses disciples et Leo Strauss. À l’issue de cette présentation, on pourra tenter d’apporter une (...) réponse à la question posée : celle-ci s’inspirera de la méthodologie en histoire des idées préconisée par l’école de Cambridge, qui, en un sens, n’est pas si éloignée de la méthode suivie par Leo Strauss. (shrink)

Einleitung: Die französischen Materialisten des 18. Jahrhunderts, von A. Baruzzi.--La Mettrie, von A. Baruzzi.--Helvétius, von E. Voegelin und P. Leuschner.--Diderot, von T. Schabert.--Sade, von A. Baruzzi.--Bibliographisches Stichwort (p. 168-174).

_Transcendence and History_ is an analysis of what philosopher Eric Voegelin described as “the decisive problem of philosophy”: the dilemma of the discovery of transcendent meaning and the impact of this discovery on human self-understanding. The explicit recognition and symbolization of transcendent meaning originally occurred in a few advanced civilizations worldwide during the first millennium?.?.e. The world’s major religious and wisdom traditions are built upon the recognition of transcendent meaning, and our own cultural and linguistic heritage has long since (...) absorbed the postcosmological division of reality into the two dimensions of “transcendence” and “immanence.” But the last three centuries in the West have seen a growing resistance to the idea of transcendent meaning; contemporary and “postmodern” interpretations of the human situation—both popular and intellectual—indicate a widespread eclipse of confidence in the truth of transcendence. In _Transcendence and History_, Glenn Hughes contributes to the understanding of transcendent meaning and the problems associated with it and assists in the philosophical recovery of the legitimacy of the notion of transcendence. Depending primarily on the treatments of transcendence found in the writings of twentieth-century philosophers Eric Voegelin and Bernard Lonergan, Hughes explores the historical discovery of transcendent meaning and then examines what it indicates about the structure of history. Hughes’s main focus, however, is on clarifying the problem of transcendence in relation to historical _existence_. Addressing both layreaders and scholars, Hughes applies the insights and analyses of Voegelin and Lonergan to considerable advantage. _Transcendence and History_ will be of particular value to those who have grappled with the notion of transcendence in the study of philosophy, comparative religion, political theory, history, philosophical anthropology, and art or poetry. By examining transcendent meaning as the key factor in the search for ultimate meaning from ancient societies to the present, the book demonstrates how “the decisive problem of philosophy” both illuminates and presents a vital challenge to contemporary intellectual discourse. (shrink)

Introducing Applied Ethics Edited by Brenda Almond, Blackwell, 1995. Pp. 375. ISBN 0-631-19389-8. 45.00 (hbk), 14.99 (pbk). Environmental Ethics Edited by Robert Elliot, Oxford University Press, 1995. Pp. 255. ISBN 9-19-875144-3. 9.95 (pbk) Medicine and Moral Reasoning Edited by K.W.M. Fulford, Grant Gillett and Janet Martin Soskice Cambridge University Press, 1994. Pp. 207. ISBN 0-521-45325-9 37.50 (hbk), 12.95 (pbk). Enlightenment and Religion. Rational Dissent in Eighteenth-century Britain Edited by Knud Haakonssen, Cambridge University Press, 1996. Pp. xii + 348. ISBN 0-521-56060-8. (...) 40.00. Dialettica, Arte e Societ : Saggio su Theodor W. Adorno By Giacomo Rinaldi, Quattroventi, Urbino, 1994. Pp. 205. L. 30,000. Relevance: Communication and Cognition, new revised edition, By Dan Sperber and Deirdre Wilson, Blackwell, 1995. Pp. 326. ISBN 0-631-19878-4. 15.99. Autobiographical Reflections By Eric Voegelin (Edited, with Introduction, by Ellis Sandoz), Louisiana State University Press, 1996. Pp. 131. ISBN 0807120766 $10.95. (shrink)

In the 1940s and 1950s _The Review of Politics_, under the dynamic leadership of Waldemar Gurian, emerged as one of the leading journals of political and social theory in the United States. This volume celebrates that legacy by bringing together classic essays by a remarkable group of American and European émigré intellectuals, among them Jacques Maritain, Hannah Arendt, Josef Pieper, Eric Voegelin, and Yves Simon. For these writers, the emergence of new dictatorial regimes in Germany and Russia and the (...) looming threat of another, even more devastating, European war demanded that one rethink the reigning philosophical perspectives of the time. In their view, the western world had lost sight of its founding principles. Individually and collectively, they maintained that the West could be saved only if its leaders embraced the idea that society should be governed by moral standards and a commitment to human dignity. Since the first issue appeared in 1939, _The Review of Politics_ has influenced generations of political theorists. To complement these essays A. James McAdams has written an introduction that discusses the history of the journal and reflects on the contributions of these influential figures. He underscores the continuing relevance of these essays in assessing contemporary issues. “The essays contained in this volume demonstrate why the _Review of Politics_ is a national treasure. From Jacques Maritain and Yves Simon to Hannah Arendt and Leo Strauss, it has consistently attracted writers of the highest quality to think about the deepest problems of politics and the twentieth century. The themes covered in this collection range from totalitarianism and nihilism to the value of education and the dignity of the individual. Their probity and intelligence show why the _Review of Politics _has remained the premier journal for serious students of political philosophy.” —_Steven B. Smith, Alfred Cowles Professor of Political Science, Yale University _ _ _ “The _Review of Politics_ has been essential reading for students of political philosophy and politics for more than two generations, including among its contributors internationally renowned scholars whose works are both enormously influential and increasingly look to be contemporary expressions of perennial wisdom. To make seminal essays of this remarkable journal easily accessible, with more to come in future volumes, is a great service to students of political science at every level.” —_Timothy Fuller, Lloyd E. Worner Distinguished Service Professor, Colorado College_ _ _. (shrink)

The moral doctrine of Hobbes, in many ways the most interesting of our major British philosophers, is, I think, commonly seen in a false perspective which has seriously obscured its real affinities. This is, no doubt, largely due to the fact that most modern readers begin and end their study of Hobbes's ethics with the Leviathan , a rhetorical and, in many ways, a popular Streitschrift published in the very culmination of what looked at the time to be a permanent (...) revolution, and do not pay such attention to the more calmly argued statements of the same doctrine contained in the Elements of Law , circulated before the outbreak of the Civil War, or the De Cive. (shrink)

O presente artigo busca expor a crítica que Hannah Arendt faz ao teorema da secularização, como apresentado por autores contemporâneos. Em primeiro lugar, será distinguido o teorema do processo de secularização que ocorreu na modernidade, tal como é feito em Hans Blumenberg e na própria Arendt. Em um segundo momento, serão comentadas as teorias de Karl Löwith e Eric Voegelin, que exemplificam o teorema da secularização criticado por Hannah Arendt. Por fim, vamos expor as críticas da autora a esse (...) teorema e mostrar como a rejeição à ideia de secularização está intimamente relacionada com sua interpretação da história. (shrink)

O objetivo do presente texto é apresentar algumas das críticas que Origens do Totalitarismo de Hannah Arendt recebeu e as discussões que suscitaram, demonstrando as dificuldades de compreender o sistema totalitário e a novidade que a interpretação de Arendt gerou. Entre os principais críticos estão Raymond Aron, Waldemar Gurian, Kurt Blumenfeld, Eric Voegelin e Karl Jaspers. Serão apresentadas algumas das críticas para, em seguida, estabelecer a discussão a partir da argumentação contida nos textos de Arendt. Serão utilizadas como principais (...) referências as obras de Arendt Origens do Totalitarismo e A condição humana, os textos “Compreensão e política”, “Sobre a natureza do totalitarismo: uma tentativa de compreensão”, “A tradição e a época moderna”, “O conceito de história: antigo e moderno”, “Que é autoridade” e “Uma réplica a Eric Voegelin”. Também serão utilizadas as cartas de Arendt com Karl Jaspers e Kurt Blumenfeld e alguns dos textos dos críticos. As biografias sobre Arendt de Elizabeth Young-Bruehl, Sylvie Courtine-Dénamy e Laure Adler e textos de Odílio Alves Aguiar e Daiane Eccel serão utilizadas como fontes importantes. Concluiu-se que Arendt desafiava a compreensão ao não simplesmente descrever os acontecimentos, mas ao realizar aquilo que acreditava ser a própria filosofia, um exercício de pensamento. (shrink)

Studies examining the ways in which the training of engineers and scientists shapes their research strategies and scientific identities.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Real-life BioethicsGregory E. KaebnickMy academic training is in philosophy, and I tend to see the problems in bioethics as philosophical problems. And so they often are. What are moral values? What is the nature of rationality? These are certainly philosophical problems. But at the same time, they are not strictly philosophical problems, insofar as they are not the special purview of the field of philosophy. They require a broader (...) treatment, and that broader treatment might even lead us to believe that the standard philosophical treatment is unsatisfactory.In one way or another, several items in this issue of the Hastings Center Report raise questions about the standard philosophical answers to issues in bioethics. The challenge is most explicit in Barry Hoffmaster’s article, “The Rationality and Morality of Dying Children.” Hoffmaster launches a frontal assault on the typical philosophical understanding of ethics, applied ethics, and bioethics. “There is more rationality in our lives than there is in our philosophy,” he begins. The usual take in philosophy on rationality “hides the real nature and extent of the rationality and the morality in our lives because it denigrates, if not ignores, our experience and our creativity.” Closer attention to our experience is therefore needed, and Hoffmaster tries to take a step in that direction by considering anthropological research on how children dying of leukemia learned about their condition and then dealt with that knowledge.The lead article, by Tony Hope and three coauthors, questions standard philosophical approaches to decision-making in a different way. Hope and his colleagues consider whether the concept of authenticity is useful for exploring how patients with anorexia nervosa understand their condition and deal with that knowledge. Further, they ask, if the concept is important for people with anorexia, should it be important for clinicians, who sometimes need to make decisions on behalf of those women? Arguably, they explain, “in respecting autonomy, it is the authentic wishes that should be respected. This would be to give the idea of authenticity a role analogous to that of capacity (competence).”Hope and colleagues are skeptical that “authenticity” can help others make decisions on behalf of women with anorexia nervosa. There is no good way of deciding which decisions would count as “authentic.” But thinking about how to make decisions is not the full extent of bioethics. As the essay by Rebecca Dresser emphasizes, attempting to understand the patient’s experience of illness is another and important part of bioethics, even though bioethicists themselves do not always see it that way. “At times,” writes Dresser, “work in our field conveys the impression that seriously ill patients and their families would be in good shape if clinicians would only do things like give patients the proper information, respect patients’ choices, and follow advance directives.” Just as Hope and colleagues argued for attending more closely to the concept of authenticity, Dresser argues for attending to concepts like dignity, mortality, and grief. These concepts “may be difficult to incorporate into bioethical analysis, but they are the sorts of concerns that matter to people dealing with serious illness.”A bioethics that dealt better with them would still be a philosophical bioethics, but certainly not just a bioethics of philosophy. It would be what Dresser calls a “real-life bioethics.” —GEK [End Page 2]Copyright © 2011 The Hastings Center... (shrink)