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Collected Works of Eric Voegelin #5
Modernity without Restraint (CW5): Political Religions; The New Science of Politics; and Science, Politics and Gnosticism: Political Religions, New ... (Collected Works of Eric Voegelin) by Eric Voegelin
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First published November 1, 1999
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About the author
Eric Voegelin
88 books185 followersGerman-born American political philosopher. He taught political theory and sociology at the University of Vienna after his habilitation there in 1928. While in Austria Voegelin established the beginnings of his long lasting friendship with F. A. Hayek. In 1933 he published two books criticizing Nazi racism, and was forced to flee from Austria following the Anschluss in 1938. After a brief stay in Switzerland, he arrived in the United States and taught at a series of universities before joining Louisiana State University's Department of Government in 1942. His advisers on his dissertation were Hans Kelsen and Othmar Spann.
Voegelin remained in Baton Rouge until 1958 when he accepted an offer by Munich's Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität to fill Max Weber's former chair in political science, which had been empty since Weber's death in 1920. In Munich he founded the Institut für Politische Wissenschaft. Voegelin returned to America in 1969 to join Stanford University's Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace as Henry Salvatori Fellow where he continued his work until his death on January 19, 1985. He was a member of the Philadelphia Society.
Voegelin remained in Baton Rouge until 1958 when he accepted an offer by Munich's Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität to fill Max Weber's former chair in political science, which had been empty since Weber's death in 1920. In Munich he founded the Institut für Politische Wissenschaft. Voegelin returned to America in 1969 to join Stanford University's Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace as Henry Salvatori Fellow where he continued his work until his death on January 19, 1985. He was a member of the Philadelphia Society.
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December 19, 2014
"Modernity Without Restraint", this volume contains three previous works of Voegelin: "The Political Religions"; "The New Science of Politics"; and "Science, Politics, and Gnosticism". Voegelin is a victim of National Socialism and a contemporary of Horkheimer and Adorno of the original Frankfurt School. However, as Henningsen points out he differs from their view that the rise of National Socialism is a product of the Enlightenment culture in general but rather arises in Italy and Greater Germany due to the late experience of these cultural forces by the peoples of these regions. These same forces would also be played out in other non-Western states under the Westernization of the global peoples in various totalitarian guises.
Voegelin states that “Totalitarianism, defined as the existential rule of gnostic activists, is the end form of progressive civilization”. He divides the gnostic into three forms: the teleological, the axiological, and the activist. He finds the first two forms firmly rooted in “the Christian ideal of perfection”. The movement of the mankind to reach and define the perfection for mankind is the focus of teleological and axiological gnosticism and Christianity from the advent of the great monastic movements of the High Middle Ages. The period of the Reformation commences the period of activist gnosticism with the paradigm shift from talking about perfection to the pragmatic pursuit of these goals and enactment of them. The end result is the formulation of the principles of the Enlightenment and the development of existential philosophy.
Whether such continuity was evident to the general populace is inconclusive, however, the thread of thought is clearly there for the teleological and axiological thinkers. Gioacchino da Fiore formulated four critical components for the existential triumph of mankind: the Third Realm, the Leader, the Prophet, and the Free Community of Men. Each of these is a critical factor in the modern mass movements that Voegelin relates to the gnostic tradition. To apply these to Germany’s original National Socialism we would have the Third Reich (Third Realm), Hitler (the Leader), Hegel (the Prophet), and the Nazis and the German people (the Free Community of Men) in their final phase of theoretical development.
Voegelin begins his modern analysis of events with the Puritan Reformation in the British Isles through the work of Richard Hooker. It is Hooker who discusses a revolutionary concept of communication to the “multitude” that will enable the activist to pursue the implementation of the Puritan “cause”. Hooker’s analysis yields the following principles of Puritan doctrine:
1)The advocate will directly communicate with the target segment of society and deliver ongoing social critiques of the ruling class.
2)Communication will be consistent and regular in order to illustrate the outrage of the advocates and, thereby, develop in the mind of the receiver a sense of the forthrightness and dedication of the advocate.
3)All condemnation and errors will be placed at the feet of the ruling class and its institutions of government, thereby, providing a point of attack and a basis of change.
4)Execution of fundamental change mandate as the “sovereign remedy of all evils”.
Clearly these are the same principles currently being utilized by the American polemicists and, basically, those of Joseph Goebbels’ principles of propaganda.
Hooker also identified two other communicational innovations by the Puritans: the Manifesto, and the control and suppression of “theoretical debate”. Voegelin describes the concept of Manifesto as the creation of a “koranic” document, Calvin’s "Institutes", which by virtue of its existence defines the standards of debate and empowers the Puritan government to dictate the correct evolution of the debate and the suppression of deviant opinions.
Obviously, the Reformation was still firmly rooted in the symbolism of Christianity even as it disrupted the basis of Christendom and the authority of the Catholic Church. It would be the work of Hobbes to remove God as the political determinate. His identification of the community of subjects whose social contract with “the Sovereign” is the rightful basis for government eliminates the need for God and the agency of the papacy. Voegelin states this is due to “the Hobbesian principle that the validity of Scripture derives from government sanction and that its public teaching should be supervised by the sovereign”. Only by surrendering personal freedom to the Sovereign, not God, can the individual man escape from “the state of nature” that “the human lust for power” has created in the human condition.
With Nietzsche’s parable of “The Madman” gnostic thought eliminates the existence of God and reduces Him to a human construct. It also beckons for the advent of the “superman” who will reinvent himself as a god for mankind. It is only necessary for Marx to interpret Hegel’s “knowledge of the immediate or existent” into ‘the critique of heaven…into the critique of earth, the critique of religion into the critique of law, the critique of theology into the critique of politics”. In Voegelin’s conception it is through this evolution of thought that the social contract with the Sovereign is transformed into the “Volk” whose “spirit” is personified in “the Fuhrer” who verbalizes and enacts “the People’s Will”.
A wonderful read and an excellent guide to understanding the evolution and danger of "Know Nothing"-ness in American society, and the problems of the Third World.
Voegelin states that “Totalitarianism, defined as the existential rule of gnostic activists, is the end form of progressive civilization”. He divides the gnostic into three forms: the teleological, the axiological, and the activist. He finds the first two forms firmly rooted in “the Christian ideal of perfection”. The movement of the mankind to reach and define the perfection for mankind is the focus of teleological and axiological gnosticism and Christianity from the advent of the great monastic movements of the High Middle Ages. The period of the Reformation commences the period of activist gnosticism with the paradigm shift from talking about perfection to the pragmatic pursuit of these goals and enactment of them. The end result is the formulation of the principles of the Enlightenment and the development of existential philosophy.
Whether such continuity was evident to the general populace is inconclusive, however, the thread of thought is clearly there for the teleological and axiological thinkers. Gioacchino da Fiore formulated four critical components for the existential triumph of mankind: the Third Realm, the Leader, the Prophet, and the Free Community of Men. Each of these is a critical factor in the modern mass movements that Voegelin relates to the gnostic tradition. To apply these to Germany’s original National Socialism we would have the Third Reich (Third Realm), Hitler (the Leader), Hegel (the Prophet), and the Nazis and the German people (the Free Community of Men) in their final phase of theoretical development.
Voegelin begins his modern analysis of events with the Puritan Reformation in the British Isles through the work of Richard Hooker. It is Hooker who discusses a revolutionary concept of communication to the “multitude” that will enable the activist to pursue the implementation of the Puritan “cause”. Hooker’s analysis yields the following principles of Puritan doctrine:
1)The advocate will directly communicate with the target segment of society and deliver ongoing social critiques of the ruling class.
2)Communication will be consistent and regular in order to illustrate the outrage of the advocates and, thereby, develop in the mind of the receiver a sense of the forthrightness and dedication of the advocate.
3)All condemnation and errors will be placed at the feet of the ruling class and its institutions of government, thereby, providing a point of attack and a basis of change.
4)Execution of fundamental change mandate as the “sovereign remedy of all evils”.
Clearly these are the same principles currently being utilized by the American polemicists and, basically, those of Joseph Goebbels’ principles of propaganda.
Hooker also identified two other communicational innovations by the Puritans: the Manifesto, and the control and suppression of “theoretical debate”. Voegelin describes the concept of Manifesto as the creation of a “koranic” document, Calvin’s "Institutes", which by virtue of its existence defines the standards of debate and empowers the Puritan government to dictate the correct evolution of the debate and the suppression of deviant opinions.
Obviously, the Reformation was still firmly rooted in the symbolism of Christianity even as it disrupted the basis of Christendom and the authority of the Catholic Church. It would be the work of Hobbes to remove God as the political determinate. His identification of the community of subjects whose social contract with “the Sovereign” is the rightful basis for government eliminates the need for God and the agency of the papacy. Voegelin states this is due to “the Hobbesian principle that the validity of Scripture derives from government sanction and that its public teaching should be supervised by the sovereign”. Only by surrendering personal freedom to the Sovereign, not God, can the individual man escape from “the state of nature” that “the human lust for power” has created in the human condition.
With Nietzsche’s parable of “The Madman” gnostic thought eliminates the existence of God and reduces Him to a human construct. It also beckons for the advent of the “superman” who will reinvent himself as a god for mankind. It is only necessary for Marx to interpret Hegel’s “knowledge of the immediate or existent” into ‘the critique of heaven…into the critique of earth, the critique of religion into the critique of law, the critique of theology into the critique of politics”. In Voegelin’s conception it is through this evolution of thought that the social contract with the Sovereign is transformed into the “Volk” whose “spirit” is personified in “the Fuhrer” who verbalizes and enacts “the People’s Will”.
A wonderful read and an excellent guide to understanding the evolution and danger of "Know Nothing"-ness in American society, and the problems of the Third World.
April 10, 2021
Each work in here, while be separated by decades, are each in their own terms excellent works of political philosophy. Voegelin is highly underrated, and *very good* !
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July 5, 2021Ouvrage difficle sur la gnose moderne, il faut s'armer de patience pour comprendre Voegelin mais il en vaut la peine !
February 18, 2023
really good and insightful overall, but I think his concept of Gnosticism is a bit overstretched and tortured
he does manage to be quite readable as far as German philosophers go
he does manage to be quite readable as far as German philosophers go
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews