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Janus: A Summing Up
Nur eine kleine Minderheit ist sich bewußt, dass die Menschheit, seit sie die nukleare Büchse der Pandora öffnete, von geborgter Zeit lebt. Nie zuvor hat eine Gruppe oder eine Nation über das technische Gerät verfügt, diesen Planeten für Leben untauglich zu machen. Arthur Koestler ... geht von der Tatsache aus, dass der Mensch die Fähigkeit zur Selbstzerstörung besitzt. Seine kulturellen und technischen Leistungen wiegen in keiner Weise die Folgen seines verfehlten Handelns auf. Der Mensch stellt sich selbst in Frage - als Irrläufer der Evolution.
354 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1978
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379 people want to read
About the author
Arthur Koestler
153 books949 followers
Darkness at Noon
(1940), novel of Hungarian-born British writer Arthur Koestler, portrays his disillusionment with Communism; his nonfiction works include
The Sleepwalkers
(1959) and
The Ghost in the Machine
(1967).
Arthur Koestler CBE [*Kösztler Artúr] was a prolific writer of essays, novels and autobiographies.
He was born into a Hungarian Jewish family in Budapest but, apart from his early school years, was educated in Austria. His early career was in journalism. In 1931 he joined the Communist Party of Germany but, disillusioned, he resigned from it in 1938 and in 1940 published a devastating anti-Communist novel, Darkness at Noon, which propelled him to instant international fame.
Over the next forty-three years he espoused many causes, wrote novels and biographies, and numerous essays. In 1968 he was awarded the prestigious and valuable Sonning Prize "For outstanding contribution to European culture", and in 1972 he was made a "Commander of the British Empire" (CBE).
In 1976 he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and three years later with leukaemia in its terminal stages. He committed suicide in 1983 in London.
Arthur Koestler CBE [*Kösztler Artúr] was a prolific writer of essays, novels and autobiographies.
He was born into a Hungarian Jewish family in Budapest but, apart from his early school years, was educated in Austria. His early career was in journalism. In 1931 he joined the Communist Party of Germany but, disillusioned, he resigned from it in 1938 and in 1940 published a devastating anti-Communist novel, Darkness at Noon, which propelled him to instant international fame.
Over the next forty-three years he espoused many causes, wrote novels and biographies, and numerous essays. In 1968 he was awarded the prestigious and valuable Sonning Prize "For outstanding contribution to European culture", and in 1972 he was made a "Commander of the British Empire" (CBE).
In 1976 he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and three years later with leukaemia in its terminal stages. He committed suicide in 1983 in London.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
April 18, 2025
Hilfloses Gestammel über Evolutions-, System- und Quantentheorie mit erschreckendem Resümee: Drogen ins Hirn.
Janus: A Summing up, der Originaltitel von Der Mensch als Irrläufer der Evolution, zieht ein Resümee aus Arthur Koestlers Denkbemühungen, der kurz darauf freiwillig aus dem Leben geschieden ist (1983). Koestlers Bekanntheit stammt hauptsächlich aus dem Roman Sonnenfinsternis , in welchem er die Stalinistischen Säuberungen anprangert und mit welchem er seinen Bruch mit dem Kommunismus vollzog. Als Renegat tanzte er fortan auf allen Hochzeiten und wirkte als advocatus diaboli, der der Gattung Mensch einen Spiegel vorzuhalten versucht:
Der Klang, der am nachhaltigsten durch die Geschichte der Menschheit hallt, ist der von Kriegstrommeln. Stammeskriege, Religionskriege, Bürgerkriege, Erbfolgekriege, Nationalkriege, Revolutionskriege, Kolonialkriege, Eroberungs- und Befreiungskriege, Kriege zur Verhütung und Beendigung aller Kriege folgen einander wie in einer Kette zwanghafter Wiederholung, und es besteht aller Grund zu der Annahme, daß diese Kette auch in Zukunft nicht abreißen wird.
Koestler hält den Menschen für eine Fehlkonstruktion, die darin ihren Höhepunkt erreicht hat, dass er technologisch die Gattung durch Atombomben auszulöschen vermag, aber moralisch noch im Pleistozän weilt. In Der Mensch als Irrläufer der Evolution rekonstruiert er die neuronalen Grundlagen des Menschen, das kybernetisch systemtheoretische Wechselwirken zwischen Stammhirn und Neokortex, und hält ihn zwischen den Polen der Selbsttranszendenz und Selbstbehauptung gefangen. Sein Hauptpunkt nun besteht darin, dass nicht die Selbstbehauptung, sondern die Selbsttranszendenz, die Suche nach Einheit mit einem größeren Ganzen, zu den Katastrophen der Menschheit geführt hat, u.a. Krieg. Es ginge darum:
schließlich das Heilmittel zu finden, das ich im Prolog voller Zuversicht angedeutet habe: jene Kombination wohltätiger Hormone oder Enzyme, die den Konflikt zwischen den alten und neuen Gehirnstrukturen löst, indem sie den Neocortex mit der Macht der hierarchischen Kontrolle über die archaischen, niedriger stehenden Zentren ausstattet und damit den Übergang vom Geisteskranken zum Menschen ermöglicht.
Also nur die direkte biochemische Behandlung mag die entfesselnden Stammhirn-Impulse bändigen, indem der Neokortex gestärkt, das Stammhirn samt dem limbischen System aber geschwächt wird. Eigenartigerweise zieht er dieses Resultat schon nach einem Drittel des Buches, woraufhin eine eigentümliche Sammlung von Gedanken folgt, die allesamt nur eines zum Ziel haben: die Hinfälligkeit des Positivismus, Reduktionismus und Materialismus zu zeigen und zwar mit dem Ziel, Raum für das Parapsychologische zu schaffen:
Das Eingeständnis der Grenzen unserer Vernunft führt automatisch zu einer toleranteren und aufgeschlosseneren Einstellung allen Phänomenen, die der Vernunft zu trotzen scheinen - wie Quantenphysik, der Parapsychologie und der akausalen Ereignisse. Diese neue Einstellung würde auch das Ende der primitiv-reduktionistischen Maxime bedeuten, alles, was sich nicht erklären lasse, könne auch nicht existieren.
Koestler tritt mit Der Mensch als Irrläufer der Evolution für eine erweiterte Weltanschauung ein, die kosmisch-holistisch alles berücksichtigt und nichts verkürzt. Mythisch aufgeladen reiht er sich in die Liste der Autoren wie Fritjof Capra und sein Das Tao der Physik oder Gary Zukav mit Die tanzenden Wu Li Meister ein, die esoterisch verbrämt aus der modernen Physik metaphysische Erkenntnisse zu ziehen versuchen.
Leider besitzt das quantentheoretische, astronomische und psychoanalytische Wissen bei Koestler weder Hand noch Fuß. Das Gefasel lässt sich, wahrscheinlich sogar ohne Hintergrundwissen, kaum ertragen. Mit einem solchen gerät die Lektüre aber zum wahren Horror, da Koestler begrifflich alles durcheinander bringt, kritisiert und lobt, wie ihm der Schnabel gewachsen ist, voller Willkür und Copy&Paste-Didaktik.
Um ein Beispiel zu geben: Koestler kritisiert Freuds Thanatos- und Erosbegriff, ohne die entscheidende Größe, nämlich die ungebunden-freien Energien im psychischen System zu berücksichtigen.
Um ein anderes Beispiel zu nennen: Er missversteht das Gesetz der großen Zahlen völlig, wenn er Charakteristika des Ensembles mit Eigenschaften der Elemente des Ensembles verwechselt.
Mit anderen Worten, Der Mensch als Irrläufer der Evolution ließe sich als Paradebeispiel für inkohärentes Denken anführen. Um nur das Offensichtlichste zu sagen: Wer ein ganzes Buch lang gegen den Materialismus wettert, aber sich angesichts der Gräueltaten der Menschen nur mit dem Vorschlag behelfen kann, ihm biochemische Substanzen ins Hirn zu spritzen, missversteht entweder den Begriff Materie oder Geist oder beides. Ich tippe auf letzteres. Dann doch lieber Robert M. Pirsigs Zen und die Kunst ein Motorrad zu warten .
Janus: A Summing up, der Originaltitel von Der Mensch als Irrläufer der Evolution, zieht ein Resümee aus Arthur Koestlers Denkbemühungen, der kurz darauf freiwillig aus dem Leben geschieden ist (1983). Koestlers Bekanntheit stammt hauptsächlich aus dem Roman Sonnenfinsternis , in welchem er die Stalinistischen Säuberungen anprangert und mit welchem er seinen Bruch mit dem Kommunismus vollzog. Als Renegat tanzte er fortan auf allen Hochzeiten und wirkte als advocatus diaboli, der der Gattung Mensch einen Spiegel vorzuhalten versucht:
Der Klang, der am nachhaltigsten durch die Geschichte der Menschheit hallt, ist der von Kriegstrommeln. Stammeskriege, Religionskriege, Bürgerkriege, Erbfolgekriege, Nationalkriege, Revolutionskriege, Kolonialkriege, Eroberungs- und Befreiungskriege, Kriege zur Verhütung und Beendigung aller Kriege folgen einander wie in einer Kette zwanghafter Wiederholung, und es besteht aller Grund zu der Annahme, daß diese Kette auch in Zukunft nicht abreißen wird.
Koestler hält den Menschen für eine Fehlkonstruktion, die darin ihren Höhepunkt erreicht hat, dass er technologisch die Gattung durch Atombomben auszulöschen vermag, aber moralisch noch im Pleistozän weilt. In Der Mensch als Irrläufer der Evolution rekonstruiert er die neuronalen Grundlagen des Menschen, das kybernetisch systemtheoretische Wechselwirken zwischen Stammhirn und Neokortex, und hält ihn zwischen den Polen der Selbsttranszendenz und Selbstbehauptung gefangen. Sein Hauptpunkt nun besteht darin, dass nicht die Selbstbehauptung, sondern die Selbsttranszendenz, die Suche nach Einheit mit einem größeren Ganzen, zu den Katastrophen der Menschheit geführt hat, u.a. Krieg. Es ginge darum:
schließlich das Heilmittel zu finden, das ich im Prolog voller Zuversicht angedeutet habe: jene Kombination wohltätiger Hormone oder Enzyme, die den Konflikt zwischen den alten und neuen Gehirnstrukturen löst, indem sie den Neocortex mit der Macht der hierarchischen Kontrolle über die archaischen, niedriger stehenden Zentren ausstattet und damit den Übergang vom Geisteskranken zum Menschen ermöglicht.
Also nur die direkte biochemische Behandlung mag die entfesselnden Stammhirn-Impulse bändigen, indem der Neokortex gestärkt, das Stammhirn samt dem limbischen System aber geschwächt wird. Eigenartigerweise zieht er dieses Resultat schon nach einem Drittel des Buches, woraufhin eine eigentümliche Sammlung von Gedanken folgt, die allesamt nur eines zum Ziel haben: die Hinfälligkeit des Positivismus, Reduktionismus und Materialismus zu zeigen und zwar mit dem Ziel, Raum für das Parapsychologische zu schaffen:
Das Eingeständnis der Grenzen unserer Vernunft führt automatisch zu einer toleranteren und aufgeschlosseneren Einstellung allen Phänomenen, die der Vernunft zu trotzen scheinen - wie Quantenphysik, der Parapsychologie und der akausalen Ereignisse. Diese neue Einstellung würde auch das Ende der primitiv-reduktionistischen Maxime bedeuten, alles, was sich nicht erklären lasse, könne auch nicht existieren.
Koestler tritt mit Der Mensch als Irrläufer der Evolution für eine erweiterte Weltanschauung ein, die kosmisch-holistisch alles berücksichtigt und nichts verkürzt. Mythisch aufgeladen reiht er sich in die Liste der Autoren wie Fritjof Capra und sein Das Tao der Physik oder Gary Zukav mit Die tanzenden Wu Li Meister ein, die esoterisch verbrämt aus der modernen Physik metaphysische Erkenntnisse zu ziehen versuchen.
Leider besitzt das quantentheoretische, astronomische und psychoanalytische Wissen bei Koestler weder Hand noch Fuß. Das Gefasel lässt sich, wahrscheinlich sogar ohne Hintergrundwissen, kaum ertragen. Mit einem solchen gerät die Lektüre aber zum wahren Horror, da Koestler begrifflich alles durcheinander bringt, kritisiert und lobt, wie ihm der Schnabel gewachsen ist, voller Willkür und Copy&Paste-Didaktik.
Um ein Beispiel zu geben: Koestler kritisiert Freuds Thanatos- und Erosbegriff, ohne die entscheidende Größe, nämlich die ungebunden-freien Energien im psychischen System zu berücksichtigen.
Um ein anderes Beispiel zu nennen: Er missversteht das Gesetz der großen Zahlen völlig, wenn er Charakteristika des Ensembles mit Eigenschaften der Elemente des Ensembles verwechselt.
Mit anderen Worten, Der Mensch als Irrläufer der Evolution ließe sich als Paradebeispiel für inkohärentes Denken anführen. Um nur das Offensichtlichste zu sagen: Wer ein ganzes Buch lang gegen den Materialismus wettert, aber sich angesichts der Gräueltaten der Menschen nur mit dem Vorschlag behelfen kann, ihm biochemische Substanzen ins Hirn zu spritzen, missversteht entweder den Begriff Materie oder Geist oder beides. Ich tippe auf letzteres. Dann doch lieber Robert M. Pirsigs Zen und die Kunst ein Motorrad zu warten .
September 3, 2021
How does one sum up Arthur Koestler? A Thirties Communist turned Fifties anti-Communist and hack for the CIA. A Hungarian Jew pronouncing that almost all the world's Jews were not descendants of the Semitic tribe 5,000 years old but of the Khazars, a Slavic people who converted to Judaism. A modern-day defender of Lamarckian, not Darwinian, evolution. This superb anthology contains excerpts from those polemics plus more, including an attack on the death penalty written conjointly with Camus and a perceptive critique of Gandhi's "naive and medieval" understanding of violence and non-violence in the modern world.
August 12, 2017
Janus, like many great books, changes the way we see the world.
The book is grand in scope, unflinching in its pursuit of truth, strikingly original, and keenly perceptive. By summing up some of his most provocative inquiries over the 20th century, Koestler gives us a glimpse of his roving, probing mind. He offers a grim, sobering perspective on the human condition and our destiny. He reveals hidden relationships between science, creativity, and humor. He regularly challenges orthodoxy, skirting the limits of science and bucking accepted dogma on materialism, reductionism, the finer points of evolutionary theory, and even parapsychology. These challenges could be easily dismissed from a lesser thinker. From Koestler, they're well-argued and highly persuasive.
I don't always agree with Koestler--how he finds probability 'mysterious' is a mystery to me--but his essays are stimulating, well-researched, and surprisingly relevant to this day.
I had heard little of Koestler before but now regard him as one of the 20th century's great writers, thinkers, and polymaths. I ordered "Sleepwalkers" immediately and plan on exploring more of his work.
The book is grand in scope, unflinching in its pursuit of truth, strikingly original, and keenly perceptive. By summing up some of his most provocative inquiries over the 20th century, Koestler gives us a glimpse of his roving, probing mind. He offers a grim, sobering perspective on the human condition and our destiny. He reveals hidden relationships between science, creativity, and humor. He regularly challenges orthodoxy, skirting the limits of science and bucking accepted dogma on materialism, reductionism, the finer points of evolutionary theory, and even parapsychology. These challenges could be easily dismissed from a lesser thinker. From Koestler, they're well-argued and highly persuasive.
I don't always agree with Koestler--how he finds probability 'mysterious' is a mystery to me--but his essays are stimulating, well-researched, and surprisingly relevant to this day.
I had heard little of Koestler before but now regard him as one of the 20th century's great writers, thinkers, and polymaths. I ordered "Sleepwalkers" immediately and plan on exploring more of his work.
September 25, 2018
This book was published around the same time as Dawkins' selfish gene and it is sad to think that this much more balanced and critical account has been largely forgotten while the Dawkins dogma has held sway for so long. This book diagnoses much of what is wrong with the reductionist Dawkins' style mentality, without, as far as I know, being aware of the work of Dawkins emerging, though he was well aware of the previous attempts of the neo-darwinist orthodoxy. His concept of Holons, as janus-faced entities, always with a self assertive tendency as a whole ruling over parts, and integrative, self transcendent tendencies as a part in some larger whole, is a good way to understand biological phenomena without becoming caught up either in the old materialist dogmas of the past or becoming overly confident in uttering things about purpose, intelligent design and such like.
The postage stamp consensus of mainstream reality needed a simple Dawkins dogma to believe in, because it is in line with the tendency of the west of a small elite to try and turn the rest of us into no more than robotic machines, slaves, or zombies. But this consensus ignores the more complex reality, and this book gives you some insights into that more complex reality. He illustrates particularly well the dangers of fixed conceptions of reality combined with over self assertive tendencies. And the danger of attachment too strongly in others to self transcendent ideologies while denying their self assertive tendencies. When a big group of people with a fixed self transcendent ideology get lulled into a hypnotic sleep by a self-assertive elite group, the results can be devastating for society. The health of all those people will continually decline because they are not in proper homeostasis between their self urges and their transcendent urges. They have become schizoid. Similarly in that situation the elite group has lost all touch with self transcendent urges, and so they are liable to become "evil" for they lose all conception and respect for any values that transcend their own interests.
Much of our mental health problems in this era come down to the fact we have had real challenges in life taken away from us, that for all the good will in the world, that may have driven this tendency, means that people turn largely into robotic and automatic ways of being. We have lost in the west the balance between our self assertive and our self transcending tendencies. It shows in our poor health, in our depression levels and in our low birth rates. We have to break out of this reductionist idée fixe, we need to bridge the gaps in our schizoid brains and live once more as healthy whole individuals. Koestlers Holons, is one concept that can be used to help take us in this direction...
The postage stamp consensus of mainstream reality needed a simple Dawkins dogma to believe in, because it is in line with the tendency of the west of a small elite to try and turn the rest of us into no more than robotic machines, slaves, or zombies. But this consensus ignores the more complex reality, and this book gives you some insights into that more complex reality. He illustrates particularly well the dangers of fixed conceptions of reality combined with over self assertive tendencies. And the danger of attachment too strongly in others to self transcendent ideologies while denying their self assertive tendencies. When a big group of people with a fixed self transcendent ideology get lulled into a hypnotic sleep by a self-assertive elite group, the results can be devastating for society. The health of all those people will continually decline because they are not in proper homeostasis between their self urges and their transcendent urges. They have become schizoid. Similarly in that situation the elite group has lost all touch with self transcendent urges, and so they are liable to become "evil" for they lose all conception and respect for any values that transcend their own interests.
Much of our mental health problems in this era come down to the fact we have had real challenges in life taken away from us, that for all the good will in the world, that may have driven this tendency, means that people turn largely into robotic and automatic ways of being. We have lost in the west the balance between our self assertive and our self transcending tendencies. It shows in our poor health, in our depression levels and in our low birth rates. We have to break out of this reductionist idée fixe, we need to bridge the gaps in our schizoid brains and live once more as healthy whole individuals. Koestlers Holons, is one concept that can be used to help take us in this direction...
August 18, 2009
Tout homme a deux visages, semblable en cela à Janus, le dieu latin.
Individu unique, il n'en appartient pas moins à un ensemble ; familial, social, national, planétaire. Entre le fini et l'infini, entre l'indépendance et la dépendance, il doit trouver son harmonie.
Que l'une des deux tendances fasse pencher la balance en sa faveur, et c'est la porte ouverte à tous les désordres pathologiques.
L'Histoire et son cortège de larmes et de sang sont là pour en témoigner. Pour que le fléau de la balance ne devienne pas le fil du rasoir, pour que l'Homme ne coure pas à sa perte, il faut écouter la leçon de Janus.
En nous aidant à diagnostiquer le mal, le dieu peut nous conduire à « une autre solution que le désespoir ».
Depuis vingt-cinq ans, Arthur Koestler effectue un périple intérieur qui l'a conduit de la politique aux sciences de la vie.
Il revient avec Janus à « l'acte de foi d'un agnostique » que lui avait inspiré dans sa jeunesse son séjour dans une prison espagnole.
Le même espoir de déchiffrer quelques-uns des hiéroglyphes tracés par l'Infini anime ce livre, où alternent humour et passion, provoquant, mais toujours lucide et extrêmement enrichissant.
Individu unique, il n'en appartient pas moins à un ensemble ; familial, social, national, planétaire. Entre le fini et l'infini, entre l'indépendance et la dépendance, il doit trouver son harmonie.
Que l'une des deux tendances fasse pencher la balance en sa faveur, et c'est la porte ouverte à tous les désordres pathologiques.
L'Histoire et son cortège de larmes et de sang sont là pour en témoigner. Pour que le fléau de la balance ne devienne pas le fil du rasoir, pour que l'Homme ne coure pas à sa perte, il faut écouter la leçon de Janus.
En nous aidant à diagnostiquer le mal, le dieu peut nous conduire à « une autre solution que le désespoir ».
Depuis vingt-cinq ans, Arthur Koestler effectue un périple intérieur qui l'a conduit de la politique aux sciences de la vie.
Il revient avec Janus à « l'acte de foi d'un agnostique » que lui avait inspiré dans sa jeunesse son séjour dans une prison espagnole.
Le même espoir de déchiffrer quelques-uns des hiéroglyphes tracés par l'Infini anime ce livre, où alternent humour et passion, provoquant, mais toujours lucide et extrêmement enrichissant.
January 2, 2015
A thought provoking book that moves along various topics. One subject covered is the weakness in man and his ability to be taken over by the collective, group and nation. The submergence of identity is seen as one of the fatal flaws in mankind. I am deeply into astrology and aware of how this collective energy as related to the outer planets take over the individual, and the submerging of the self into a greater power. Other topics cover evolution and arguments against Darwin's popular theory. Koestler is an ample debater and deep thinker and mentally tackles these problems with great force. The part on humor was astonishingly accurate and I greatly enjoyed the discussion about the act of sobbing and laughter being peculiarly similar. The Evolutionary parts dragged on a while, but then the talk on unconscious and conscious awareness was interesting and psychologically accurate. Overall, lots of thoughts to chew over, and interesting tid-bits, including when Koestler revealed that he was locked up once, accused of being a spy and nearly executed. Overall, plenty of powerful observations and great quotes as well from other authors littered throughout the text. Man and his two-faced nature.
August 25, 2023
Koestler was basically writing the same book, over and over again, and this probably crams the jumble into one cover.
Definately a strange guy, and in some ways, could have been the original Bill Cosby.
Just look up the horrifying story of Jill Craigie who accused him of rape and pounding her head on the floor, who basically thought he was a psychotic, and didn't speak about the story for 50 years, thinking she wouldn't have been believed.
He's a fascinating guy in a very dated sorta way, who i think was just a guy who wanted to pretend to be way more clever than he actually was. He engaged in a lot of wild speculations, and the stuff in his biographies make him look like a bit of a monster.
---
I tend to to see this facet of Koestler's books as a flaky mixture of Ryle, Jung, Bohm, Jaynes, von Bertalanffy, Simon, Polyani, with a touch of Whitehead.
A whimsical fake, who tries to be too cute.
oh well.
---
He's fun reading if you know it's largely a waste of time
in summary, he was the
Flaky Philosopher
The Grand Moralizer about Humanity and Politics
yet a festering sore when it comes to his own personal morals, Cosby-style.
----
Kirkus Reviews
Reason and emotion, self-assertiveness and integration, sub-whole and part of a larger whole: Koestler abounds in polarities in this, his summing up of positions taken in his recent psychologizing years. Janus, the two-faced god, looking forward and back, or up and down, is the obvious metaphor for this work of ""schizophysiology.""
But it is more schizoid than physiology.
Koestler admits to gloomy thoughts; says, in fact, that Homo sapiens has a low life expectancy because of ""the paranoid streak revealed by his past record.""
The cause is the inadequate communication between the neocortex and man's phylogenetically older brain(s).
A staunch supporter of Paul MacLean's ""horse"" and ""crocodile"" brains (governing emotions and visceral behavior), Koestler simply asserts that evolution has blundered, producing a human brain with imperfect command and control.
Never mind that leading neuroscientists are the first to admit that we have barely begun to track the pathways up, down, and sideways in the brain, that the number and function of neurotransmitters are unknown, and that far from writing off the brain as nature's mistake, scientists are just beginning to realize its true sophistication.
What would Koestler do? Curiously, having denounced reductionism, materialism, nco-Darwinism, Freud, Watson, Skinner, Monod, Simpson, he opts for a biochemical solution.
Drugs will be found that improve cortical control.
At the same time, Koestler preaches a neo-Lamarckism, and throws purpose back in biology, as well as mysticism, ESP, Jungian ""synchronicity,"" hidden variables, telepathy.
Much of Koestler's writing is authoritarian: he quotes those contemporaries or historical figures favoring his point of view as evidence for its correctness.
This gives the book an archaic flavor.
Indeed, some of the writing about emotion is as dated as William McDougall or William James. Even terms like ""purposive striving"" are born again. Read in this light, the book has a certain period-piece curiosity.
And one essay, on the relations between wit, scientific discovery, and creativity in art, has some striking insights. But read as a work of contemporary science. . . insight into genetics, evolution, and the brain. . . or wave of the future? Decidedly not.
---
My thoughts about that review?
cutsey junk by a wacko
Definately a strange guy, and in some ways, could have been the original Bill Cosby.
Just look up the horrifying story of Jill Craigie who accused him of rape and pounding her head on the floor, who basically thought he was a psychotic, and didn't speak about the story for 50 years, thinking she wouldn't have been believed.
He's a fascinating guy in a very dated sorta way, who i think was just a guy who wanted to pretend to be way more clever than he actually was. He engaged in a lot of wild speculations, and the stuff in his biographies make him look like a bit of a monster.
---
I tend to to see this facet of Koestler's books as a flaky mixture of Ryle, Jung, Bohm, Jaynes, von Bertalanffy, Simon, Polyani, with a touch of Whitehead.
A whimsical fake, who tries to be too cute.
oh well.
---
He's fun reading if you know it's largely a waste of time
in summary, he was the
Flaky Philosopher
The Grand Moralizer about Humanity and Politics
yet a festering sore when it comes to his own personal morals, Cosby-style.
----
Kirkus Reviews
Reason and emotion, self-assertiveness and integration, sub-whole and part of a larger whole: Koestler abounds in polarities in this, his summing up of positions taken in his recent psychologizing years. Janus, the two-faced god, looking forward and back, or up and down, is the obvious metaphor for this work of ""schizophysiology.""
But it is more schizoid than physiology.
Koestler admits to gloomy thoughts; says, in fact, that Homo sapiens has a low life expectancy because of ""the paranoid streak revealed by his past record.""
The cause is the inadequate communication between the neocortex and man's phylogenetically older brain(s).
A staunch supporter of Paul MacLean's ""horse"" and ""crocodile"" brains (governing emotions and visceral behavior), Koestler simply asserts that evolution has blundered, producing a human brain with imperfect command and control.
Never mind that leading neuroscientists are the first to admit that we have barely begun to track the pathways up, down, and sideways in the brain, that the number and function of neurotransmitters are unknown, and that far from writing off the brain as nature's mistake, scientists are just beginning to realize its true sophistication.
What would Koestler do? Curiously, having denounced reductionism, materialism, nco-Darwinism, Freud, Watson, Skinner, Monod, Simpson, he opts for a biochemical solution.
Drugs will be found that improve cortical control.
At the same time, Koestler preaches a neo-Lamarckism, and throws purpose back in biology, as well as mysticism, ESP, Jungian ""synchronicity,"" hidden variables, telepathy.
Much of Koestler's writing is authoritarian: he quotes those contemporaries or historical figures favoring his point of view as evidence for its correctness.
This gives the book an archaic flavor.
Indeed, some of the writing about emotion is as dated as William McDougall or William James. Even terms like ""purposive striving"" are born again. Read in this light, the book has a certain period-piece curiosity.
And one essay, on the relations between wit, scientific discovery, and creativity in art, has some striking insights. But read as a work of contemporary science. . . insight into genetics, evolution, and the brain. . . or wave of the future? Decidedly not.
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My thoughts about that review?
cutsey junk by a wacko
December 30, 2024
Koestler's summary of his main philosophical ideas to date (1978) which makes for good reading. Koestler mainly concerns himself with hierarchic structures of reality (i.e. holons), creativity (analogies between concepts), and the possibility of non-physical aspects of reality. These things lead to prolonged treatments of evolutionary theory, humour, scientific discovery, free will, and the allowance of ESP. Ironically, Koestler does deny religion's legitimacy and does not permit God to exist despite acknowledging Darwinian evolutionary theory cannot account for the systemization of all organisms (and non-organisms) and that there should be scientific study into metaphysical phenomena. In any case, he does seem to come to the edge of philosophy/science's reasoning and hopes we can continue to push the boundaries to discover what is out there. In my opinion, he is bordering God with his ideas but refuses to come to Him.
January 26, 2020
To my knowledge the best comprehension of the overview of the "human problem" best articulated in written form before the 21st century.
I am dazzled by the comprehensiveness with which Arthur addresses the trouble that is inevitably coming and reading the book nearly 50 years later, all of this work is vital and mainly still unanswered.
This book is as highly recommended as I am able in this format. This book is on my top shelf and I bring it down often...
I am dazzled by the comprehensiveness with which Arthur addresses the trouble that is inevitably coming and reading the book nearly 50 years later, all of this work is vital and mainly still unanswered.
This book is as highly recommended as I am able in this format. This book is on my top shelf and I bring it down often...
January 17, 2014
After having read a couple of Koestler's books (The Ghost in the Machine, The Case of the Midwife Toad) around 30 years ago, and finding that some of the ideas in them had clung to me through thick and thin, it was a great pleasure to revisit his central theses in this wide-ranging summary work. What an incredible, foresighted polymath--and pre-internet, too! A terrific book to start off the year with--and likely as good an introduction to Koestler's work as one can find.
March 13, 2009
Put things in perspective for me as a teenager, in a very profound way that I'll never forget.
September 1, 2015
Lido na tradução em português do Brasil anos atrás e algumas das ideias ainda me assombram: "As duas faces de Janus".
December 19, 2018
An excellent book for me. I say 'for me' because I think previous works by Koestler need to be read before tackling 'Janus'. The sub-title, 'A summing up', is what it is as he refers to many previous writings. I my opinion Koestler is one of the great intellectuals of the 20th century. His private life has been questionable, but that aside, he realised the strengths and weaknesses of the human condition, especially his own.
Having spent time in prisons in Spain, France and England, The Koestler Trust promotes art in prisons and is a registered charity.
However much I admire Koestler as a writer and intellectual, he is one person I would not have liked to meet.
Topically, he mentioned a United States of Europe as early as 1940, and one wonders what he would make of us today!
Having spent time in prisons in Spain, France and England, The Koestler Trust promotes art in prisons and is a registered charity.
However much I admire Koestler as a writer and intellectual, he is one person I would not have liked to meet.
Topically, he mentioned a United States of Europe as early as 1940, and one wonders what he would make of us today!
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