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Critique du monde moderne #3
The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times
The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times was written as a critique and description of the evolution of the current situation in the contemporary world, and is considered as a master explanation of the modern world seen from a traditional point of view.
The Reign of Quantity indicates the downward movement of the cycle of humanity, which drags it towards the material pole of quantity.
The modern world, considered in itself, constitutes an anomaly and even a kind of monstrosity. Located in the whole of the historical cycle of which it is a part, it corresponds exactly to the conditions of a certain phase of that cycle, which the Hindu tradition designates as the extreme period of the Kali-Yuga.
Throughout the book, what can be called the Signs of the Times are described, according to the evangelical expression, that is, the precursor signs of the "end of a world" or of a cycle of humanity, upon reaching the maximum point of materiality, which in turn leads to the final dissolution.
Guénon describes how the mentality that originated modern science and the departure from traditional principles has shaped the world in its image and likeness, enclosing humanity in a materialistic shell, which prevents human beings from connecting with the spiritual world.< br>
The final part of this cycle, in which we find ourselves, is characterized by the cracks that appear in the materialist conception, which leaves it open, from below, to the most deleterious influences of the lower or "infernal" world, but still blocking communication with higher spiritual influences.
This work allows us to contemplate the modern world with different eyes, dispelling, to a certain extent, the illusions that allow its continuity. Because, ultimately, "the end of the modern world" will be nothing more than the end of an illusion.
The Reign of Quantity indicates the downward movement of the cycle of humanity, which drags it towards the material pole of quantity.
The modern world, considered in itself, constitutes an anomaly and even a kind of monstrosity. Located in the whole of the historical cycle of which it is a part, it corresponds exactly to the conditions of a certain phase of that cycle, which the Hindu tradition designates as the extreme period of the Kali-Yuga.
Throughout the book, what can be called the Signs of the Times are described, according to the evangelical expression, that is, the precursor signs of the "end of a world" or of a cycle of humanity, upon reaching the maximum point of materiality, which in turn leads to the final dissolution.
Guénon describes how the mentality that originated modern science and the departure from traditional principles has shaped the world in its image and likeness, enclosing humanity in a materialistic shell, which prevents human beings from connecting with the spiritual world.< br>
The final part of this cycle, in which we find ourselves, is characterized by the cracks that appear in the materialist conception, which leaves it open, from below, to the most deleterious influences of the lower or "infernal" world, but still blocking communication with higher spiritual influences.
This work allows us to contemplate the modern world with different eyes, dispelling, to a certain extent, the illusions that allow its continuity. Because, ultimately, "the end of the modern world" will be nothing more than the end of an illusion.
365 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1945
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3989 people want to read
About the author
René Guénon
290 books759 followersRené Guénon (1886-1951) was a French author and intellectual who remains an influential figure in the domain of sacred science,traditional studies, symbolism and initiation.
French biography : http://arlesquint.free.fr/rene%20guen...
http://www.index-rene-guenon.org/
French biography : http://arlesquint.free.fr/rene%20guen...
http://www.index-rene-guenon.org/
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews
May 24, 2010
René Guénon is like the Oswald Spengler of metaphysics. My interest Guénon comes from the fact that he was a huge influence (and one of the most important teachers) on Julius Evola, a fellow traditionalist. "The Reign of Quantity" is written in a very assertive and "no bullshit" manner as if René Guénon were the metaphysical prophet of Western decline (and Kali Yuga), which he pretty much is. Due to René Guénon's writing "tone", many would probably be put off when immediately reading his work for the first time, a writer one either "loves" or "hates." My only problem with the work is that a lot of René Guénon's claims are virtually impossible to verify, although I think his general message of the world being on it's final cycle to be correct.
October 30, 2015
This work is far from an easy read. There isn't much of a reason to read it if one intends on rushing through it. I mostly read it one chapter a day, sometimes two, and then digest. Guénon's prose is fairly typical of the French writing style and thus you must be able to tolerate long run on sentences to enjoy reading the work without it feeling like too much of a chore.
The translation is very good and leaves nothing to be desired. Guénon pulls from a vast range of traditions, has a very impressive grasp of how they fit together and his analysis is astounding. It's even more so when one thinks about him writing this in 1945 and how "prophetic" his insight has proved itself to be when reading it through the "lenses" of today's world.
His critique of "scientism" is spot on and his predictions concerning this "scientistic" philosophy have worked themselves out to this day in the very ways he describes. I found these chapters especially interesting since it felt like I was reading a modern critic here and now in 2015.
I emphatically recommend this work.
The translation is very good and leaves nothing to be desired. Guénon pulls from a vast range of traditions, has a very impressive grasp of how they fit together and his analysis is astounding. It's even more so when one thinks about him writing this in 1945 and how "prophetic" his insight has proved itself to be when reading it through the "lenses" of today's world.
His critique of "scientism" is spot on and his predictions concerning this "scientistic" philosophy have worked themselves out to this day in the very ways he describes. I found these chapters especially interesting since it felt like I was reading a modern critic here and now in 2015.
I emphatically recommend this work.
January 1, 2015
This is one of the profound books , written by a human , that i ever came across. I am speechless and cannot find words to describe how essential this writings to our human race and , indeed above all, to one's self. Its is usually not easy to follow Guénon specially with a translated book, and more specifically on a complicated subject like this one, so if i may ever advice i would say ( and that is what i done from an advice ) to start first by reading his work " The East and West , then The Crisis of modern world, then perhaps you may be ready to start on The reign of Quantity . Yet i would need to read it again and again to catch it. We are indeed in the KaliYoga reign in which almost every notion, every terminology, every matter is in a counter irremediable state , and in best cases is deviated and distorted.
May 1, 2013
This book has affected me too much to review it, and I'm still digesting it. Remind me to give it a proper review in a year or two.
December 4, 2019
The book that changed my life, and a recommended starter book for those interested in Guenon.
September 2, 2024
I find this book could drive some people mad if they don’t believe in anything higher than their own selves. But it has important criticism of consumerist society and modern ideals. I think this book makes us conscious how bad modernity is and how much better it would be if we could live in a tranquil place without distracting and noisy devices and be with God and nature.
It relies on the ancient texts of the Hindus for some of its arguments.
The author himself was deeply respected by some Hindu masters.
It relies on the ancient texts of the Hindus for some of its arguments.
The author himself was deeply respected by some Hindu masters.
February 6, 2013
It was my introduction to perennial wisdom and my never ending love for perennial philosophy.
March 22, 2017
بلاخره بار دوم خواندن کتاب سیطره کمیت و علائم آخرزمان رنه گنون تمام شد.
سنتگرایی در معنای اصیلش به واقع یک دین است. یک جهانبینی کامل که توضیح بسیاری از مشکلات نو و تشریح کیفیات سنت را بهتر از هر تلاش دیگری در خود دارد. حتی نهادهای کلاسیک ادیان به دلیل عدم برخورد نزدیک با جهان نو و به طور مشخصتر مساله پیچیده غرب فکری، به خوبی سنتگرایی جوابگوی مشکلات اخیر نیستند....
سنتگرایی مادامی که از شاخههای دم دستی و غالبا نه چندان آبدار دست چندمی تککتابی و به قول گنون سنتجو خوانده میشود اندیشه ای سخت مشکوک و تردیدپذیر است؛ درست به همان اندازه که خواندن از تنههای تنومندی مانند گنون دلپذیر.
پیش از خواندن گنون، حتی مقالات گاهبهگاه شوان نمیتوانست تصویری روشن و البته احترامبرانگیز از سنتگرایی را این چنین برای م ایجاد کند. حالا سرچشمه بسیاری از اندیشههای انتقادی اصیل داخلی و افتراق بسیاری از اندیشههای دست دوم داخلی را بهتر میفهمم....
شاید اگر سنتگرایی به معنای دقیقتر مورد نظر خود گنون یعنی دینمداری به نقد و بررسی عالمان آگاه نهادهای رسمی دین هم درآید نتیجه راهگشاتر از امروز باشد....
خواندن کتاب سیطره کمیت و علائم آخرزمان رنه گنون - که نامش برای غیرمطلعین سخت فریبناک است - را به همه علاقهمندان فلسفه، فلسفه غرب، حکمت، تاریخ، تاریخ ادیان، مطالعات تطبیقی و حتی آنها که از خواندن یک متن پیوسته استخواندار لذت میبرند توصیه میکنم.
سنتگرایی در معنای اصیلش به واقع یک دین است. یک جهانبینی کامل که توضیح بسیاری از مشکلات نو و تشریح کیفیات سنت را بهتر از هر تلاش دیگری در خود دارد. حتی نهادهای کلاسیک ادیان به دلیل عدم برخورد نزدیک با جهان نو و به طور مشخصتر مساله پیچیده غرب فکری، به خوبی سنتگرایی جوابگوی مشکلات اخیر نیستند....
سنتگرایی مادامی که از شاخههای دم دستی و غالبا نه چندان آبدار دست چندمی تککتابی و به قول گنون سنتجو خوانده میشود اندیشه ای سخت مشکوک و تردیدپذیر است؛ درست به همان اندازه که خواندن از تنههای تنومندی مانند گنون دلپذیر.
پیش از خواندن گنون، حتی مقالات گاهبهگاه شوان نمیتوانست تصویری روشن و البته احترامبرانگیز از سنتگرایی را این چنین برای م ایجاد کند. حالا سرچشمه بسیاری از اندیشههای انتقادی اصیل داخلی و افتراق بسیاری از اندیشههای دست دوم داخلی را بهتر میفهمم....
شاید اگر سنتگرایی به معنای دقیقتر مورد نظر خود گنون یعنی دینمداری به نقد و بررسی عالمان آگاه نهادهای رسمی دین هم درآید نتیجه راهگشاتر از امروز باشد....
خواندن کتاب سیطره کمیت و علائم آخرزمان رنه گنون - که نامش برای غیرمطلعین سخت فریبناک است - را به همه علاقهمندان فلسفه، فلسفه غرب، حکمت، تاریخ، تاریخ ادیان، مطالعات تطبیقی و حتی آنها که از خواندن یک متن پیوسته استخواندار لذت میبرند توصیه میکنم.
January 25, 2018
A sledgehammer.
"Le “Règne de la Quantité” a été épuisé avec une rapidité qui m’a surpris"
"The Reign of Quantity" has been exhausted with a speed that surprised me"
- Guénon, Correspondance with A.K. Coomaraswamy - Cairo, 5 february 1946
"Le “Règne de la Quantité” a été épuisé avec une rapidité qui m’a surpris"
"The Reign of Quantity" has been exhausted with a speed that surprised me"
- Guénon, Correspondance with A.K. Coomaraswamy - Cairo, 5 february 1946
May 20, 2025
According to René Guénon, all perceivable reality is manifested between the poles of quality and quantity, which correspond to the classical distinctions between essence and substance, form and matter, and the analogous concepts indicated by the Sanskrit terms nāma and rūpa; not to mention the “theological” duality of spirit and (material) nature, Puruṣa and Prakṛti. Every being, every object of perception, from rarefied intellectual concepts to base matter, is a composite of essence and substance residing somewhere between these two axes. Each cosmic age is an inevitable movement from the principial unity, in which all qualities coincide with complete distinction but without separation, to the uniformity of a purely quantitative mode of existence, which attempts to ape the higher unity of essence but instead produces an inexorable levelling phenomenon that can only efface and separate things—since pure quantity excludes all qualitative content and separativity is inherent in the quantitative principle—to the point of reducing them below the level of existence. One might therefore say that each of the two poles resides “outside” the realm of manifestation: the essential pole of qualitative unity, which theological language might identify with God*, transcends substantial manifestation, while the contentless vapor of nonbeing, of evil as privatio boni, is incapable of true existence.
Many of the developments we consider characteristic of modernity—industrialism, consumerism, the mechanization of work, mass politics and media, secularism, majoritarianism, individualism—are symptoms of what Guénon calls the Reign of Quantity: the terminal stage of a cosmic epoch, characterized by an accelerating quantification of reality to the exclusion of its qualitative aspect; the aspect of both unity and distinction. The properties of such a phase are disintegration and indistinction, exemplified in the social world by the anonymization of the person and the mass replication of the individual. Far from accentuating personal uniqueness, individualism diminishes personhood—which always has more of a qualitative character—and reduces the human being to so many interchangeable and indefinitely replicable units. What the modern world identifies as “rationalism” is in fact the elevation of discursive reason—largely the province of the individual—to the exclusion of the “supra-individual,” “transcendent intellect,” the intuitively-grasped world of nous, the world of ideas, the world of the forms, analogous in some degree to the Jungian collective unconscious.
Guénon ends by referring to the symbol of the Antichrist, or Dajjal, whom he takes to “incarnate” the terminus of the Reign of Quantity: the advent of “inverted quality” inaugurated through a movement of “counter-initiation,” which will claim on the surface to restore proper qualitative hierarchies and distinctions, but which will in fact constitute their complete reversal.
* After all, theology ascribes qualities to God, cf. the 99 Names of God in Islam or Pseudo-Dionysius’ On the Divine Names, but rejects the possibility of speaking of God quantitatively, in terms of extension or separateness.
Many of the developments we consider characteristic of modernity—industrialism, consumerism, the mechanization of work, mass politics and media, secularism, majoritarianism, individualism—are symptoms of what Guénon calls the Reign of Quantity: the terminal stage of a cosmic epoch, characterized by an accelerating quantification of reality to the exclusion of its qualitative aspect; the aspect of both unity and distinction. The properties of such a phase are disintegration and indistinction, exemplified in the social world by the anonymization of the person and the mass replication of the individual. Far from accentuating personal uniqueness, individualism diminishes personhood—which always has more of a qualitative character—and reduces the human being to so many interchangeable and indefinitely replicable units. What the modern world identifies as “rationalism” is in fact the elevation of discursive reason—largely the province of the individual—to the exclusion of the “supra-individual,” “transcendent intellect,” the intuitively-grasped world of nous, the world of ideas, the world of the forms, analogous in some degree to the Jungian collective unconscious.
Guénon ends by referring to the symbol of the Antichrist, or Dajjal, whom he takes to “incarnate” the terminus of the Reign of Quantity: the advent of “inverted quality” inaugurated through a movement of “counter-initiation,” which will claim on the surface to restore proper qualitative hierarchies and distinctions, but which will in fact constitute their complete reversal.
* After all, theology ascribes qualities to God, cf. the 99 Names of God in Islam or Pseudo-Dionysius’ On the Divine Names, but rejects the possibility of speaking of God quantitatively, in terms of extension or separateness.
January 22, 2021
“Traditionalism” is a thing among the far right kids these days. As I’ve written in a few places, seemingly all of them confuse “Tradition,” the mystical bundle of essential truths the original early-twentieth century Traditionalists believed in, and “tradition,” i.e. whatever bits of the past a zoomer chud thinks is cool. And they’re not generally deep readers in any event. The only name amongst the Traditionalists they really check is that of Julius Evola, waving around copies of “Revolt Against the Modern World” like little totems, which, more than a text, the book — any book — is to them. I thought it would be interesting to look more at some of the other Traditionalists from the early twentieth century, especially René Guénon, arguably the granddaddy of them all and a major influence on Evola. To the extent Evola is having a moment in the sun, Guénon lives in his shadow — put the search term “Rene Guenon” into the Wikipedia search bar, and Julius Evola’s article is the first result — and I wondered why that was.
Reading “The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times,” arguably Guénon’s great Traditionalist statement (others say it’s other books- these folks are squabblers), does indeed shed some light on this question of Guénon’s twenty-first century reception. From previous readings, I understood that Evola emphasized action in this world, where Guénon preached something closer to withdrawal- Evola the warrior-priest (wannabe) vs Guénon the priest (wannabe, but closer than Evola got to his beau ideal). Evola got involved in fascism, recruited for the SS, and inspired terrorists during the Years of Lead; Guénon fucked off to Cairo for the war years and became a Sufi mystic. I also knew that Evola explicitly racialized Traditionalism much more than did Guénon, making Aryans the bearers of the sacred Tradition and Jews it’s traducer.
What I didn’t know before reading a full length Guénon work was how fucking boring he was. I wouldn’t call Evola an exciting writer. He would go on at length about all sorts of nonsense in “Revolt,” his later work amounts to edgy self-help, and he was no stranger to pedantry. But Guénon puts him in the shade, pedantry-wise, and does so in plodding, Aristotelian writing. It’s worth remembering Guénon came out of the French right-wing Catholic milieu of his time, and Thomism — LARPing Thomas Aquinas’s application of Aristotelian thought to Christianity, just without the actual vital lived belief Aquinas brought to the picture — was big stuff with that crowd. Every term — quality, quantity, time, space, science, craft, art, etc etc — needs to be defined and redefined because our modern world is so fallen that we don’t know what terms mean anymore… but what Guénon mostly means in his redefinition is “the usual definition, but excluding stuff that aesthetically displeases me.”
The basic point of the book is that we are now in an “age of quantity,” where modernity and egalitarianism have made everything from personalities to consumer goods so standardized that nothing has unique qualities anymore. The Tradition — the one path to enlightenment handed down the ages from time immemorial to select bands of initiates — is the only thing that can save us from this fate, but probably not until the time cycle (borrowed from Hinduism) cycles down through this vulgar age and back to a golden age of spirituality and quality.
This reminds me of nothing so much, oddly enough, as something in the works of Orson Scott Card. In Card’s “Alvin Maker” series, the big enemy of the main character, Alvin, a mage based on Mormon founder Joseph Smith, is no less than the element of water. Alvin brings things together and raises them to their essences- water submerges and smooths everything out into sameness. Card relates how water constantly tries to kill Alvin, through drowning, waterborne disease, etc. But… like… Alvin is seventy-odd percent water! If water wants to kill him, why don’t his cells just do the deed?! The early Alvin Maker books are among Card’s better books before he started to suck/became more of an asshole, but you can see the lack of thoughtfulness and mental balance that helped bring Card low. You need water, along with the other three elements. You need entropy and even death for a balanced system where things grow.
Guénon is a little smarter than Card and so doesn’t come out and say quantity is unimportant or bad in and of itself. It’s just how modernity substitutes quantity for quality that is at issue. Still- as far as I’m concerned, quantity is a quality all its own. God favors the big battalions, as Voltaire put it. A fine (fewer molecules) point pierces better than a dull (more molecules) one. Quantitative changes make quality differences.
Blah blah, etc etc… this is the sort of talk we’re reduced to when dealing with Guénon, idiotic generalities dressed up in erudite clothes and put in the service of elitism. As I read, I found myself casting around for points of interest and finding very few. One I did find was the translator of this work, Lord Northbourne, who did his best with what was doubtless highly persnickety French. Northbourne was an Olympic medalist in rowing and the inventor of the phrase “organic farming” along with being a Traditionalist translator! If you’re wondering, the Northbourne lordship goes back to the 1790s when some relative was a bureaucrat/fundraiser for the king’s wars, not the mists of time, but that’s Traditionalism for you. All in all, a shit book, probably “better” than Evola — smarter, less racist — but duller. *’
Reading “The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times,” arguably Guénon’s great Traditionalist statement (others say it’s other books- these folks are squabblers), does indeed shed some light on this question of Guénon’s twenty-first century reception. From previous readings, I understood that Evola emphasized action in this world, where Guénon preached something closer to withdrawal- Evola the warrior-priest (wannabe) vs Guénon the priest (wannabe, but closer than Evola got to his beau ideal). Evola got involved in fascism, recruited for the SS, and inspired terrorists during the Years of Lead; Guénon fucked off to Cairo for the war years and became a Sufi mystic. I also knew that Evola explicitly racialized Traditionalism much more than did Guénon, making Aryans the bearers of the sacred Tradition and Jews it’s traducer.
What I didn’t know before reading a full length Guénon work was how fucking boring he was. I wouldn’t call Evola an exciting writer. He would go on at length about all sorts of nonsense in “Revolt,” his later work amounts to edgy self-help, and he was no stranger to pedantry. But Guénon puts him in the shade, pedantry-wise, and does so in plodding, Aristotelian writing. It’s worth remembering Guénon came out of the French right-wing Catholic milieu of his time, and Thomism — LARPing Thomas Aquinas’s application of Aristotelian thought to Christianity, just without the actual vital lived belief Aquinas brought to the picture — was big stuff with that crowd. Every term — quality, quantity, time, space, science, craft, art, etc etc — needs to be defined and redefined because our modern world is so fallen that we don’t know what terms mean anymore… but what Guénon mostly means in his redefinition is “the usual definition, but excluding stuff that aesthetically displeases me.”
The basic point of the book is that we are now in an “age of quantity,” where modernity and egalitarianism have made everything from personalities to consumer goods so standardized that nothing has unique qualities anymore. The Tradition — the one path to enlightenment handed down the ages from time immemorial to select bands of initiates — is the only thing that can save us from this fate, but probably not until the time cycle (borrowed from Hinduism) cycles down through this vulgar age and back to a golden age of spirituality and quality.
This reminds me of nothing so much, oddly enough, as something in the works of Orson Scott Card. In Card’s “Alvin Maker” series, the big enemy of the main character, Alvin, a mage based on Mormon founder Joseph Smith, is no less than the element of water. Alvin brings things together and raises them to their essences- water submerges and smooths everything out into sameness. Card relates how water constantly tries to kill Alvin, through drowning, waterborne disease, etc. But… like… Alvin is seventy-odd percent water! If water wants to kill him, why don’t his cells just do the deed?! The early Alvin Maker books are among Card’s better books before he started to suck/became more of an asshole, but you can see the lack of thoughtfulness and mental balance that helped bring Card low. You need water, along with the other three elements. You need entropy and even death for a balanced system where things grow.
Guénon is a little smarter than Card and so doesn’t come out and say quantity is unimportant or bad in and of itself. It’s just how modernity substitutes quantity for quality that is at issue. Still- as far as I’m concerned, quantity is a quality all its own. God favors the big battalions, as Voltaire put it. A fine (fewer molecules) point pierces better than a dull (more molecules) one. Quantitative changes make quality differences.
Blah blah, etc etc… this is the sort of talk we’re reduced to when dealing with Guénon, idiotic generalities dressed up in erudite clothes and put in the service of elitism. As I read, I found myself casting around for points of interest and finding very few. One I did find was the translator of this work, Lord Northbourne, who did his best with what was doubtless highly persnickety French. Northbourne was an Olympic medalist in rowing and the inventor of the phrase “organic farming” along with being a Traditionalist translator! If you’re wondering, the Northbourne lordship goes back to the 1790s when some relative was a bureaucrat/fundraiser for the king’s wars, not the mists of time, but that’s Traditionalism for you. All in all, a shit book, probably “better” than Evola — smarter, less racist — but duller. *’
December 30, 2023
This is another profound magnum opus by René Guénon other that The Crisis of the Modern World. Shaykh Hamza Yusuf once recommended this book years ago and I could only able to read this magnificent work during this time and definitely, Guenon able to portray on how the modern industry put on quantity superior than quality when he mentioned that “modern industry is the triumph of quantity because it does not demand knowledge and the work are limited to entirely mechanical kind.”
On the other side, the present-day psychology considers nothing but “subconscious”, never “supraconscious” which make it operates in a downward direction and the worst part is when some adopt the term “unconscious” as equivalent to “subconscious” and this term is actually even lower level as it corresponds less closely to reality, but only to materialistic and mechanistic prejudice since it considers anything unconscious really exist?
The idea that the modern physicists reduced quality (reality) to quantity (matter) is a “new confusion” and “logic of error”. This is where the fallacy of Leibniz comes when he defines space as simply “order of coexistence” and time as an “order of succession” without taking account of the ontological nature which is the corporeal existence. That is why Plato states “God geometrizes always” and put on the door of his school “Let none but a geometrician enter here” which imply the esoteric side (geometry) which imitate the divine activity, producing and ordering the world rather than merely exoteric side (architecture). In Arabic, “handasah” (هندسة) which the primary meaning is “measure” denotes both geometry and architecture since the latter being really the application of the former and both are inseparable.
On the other side, the present-day psychology considers nothing but “subconscious”, never “supraconscious” which make it operates in a downward direction and the worst part is when some adopt the term “unconscious” as equivalent to “subconscious” and this term is actually even lower level as it corresponds less closely to reality, but only to materialistic and mechanistic prejudice since it considers anything unconscious really exist?
The idea that the modern physicists reduced quality (reality) to quantity (matter) is a “new confusion” and “logic of error”. This is where the fallacy of Leibniz comes when he defines space as simply “order of coexistence” and time as an “order of succession” without taking account of the ontological nature which is the corporeal existence. That is why Plato states “God geometrizes always” and put on the door of his school “Let none but a geometrician enter here” which imply the esoteric side (geometry) which imitate the divine activity, producing and ordering the world rather than merely exoteric side (architecture). In Arabic, “handasah” (هندسة) which the primary meaning is “measure” denotes both geometry and architecture since the latter being really the application of the former and both are inseparable.
September 26, 2016
To this very day, every single time I return to this book, the overwhelming feeling of depth, intellect, insight, wisdom, and knowledge give me enough fuel to go on for days and sometimes weeks.
Truly nothing short of a masterpiece.
I cannot help you by stating anything on the subject matter, for fear of limiting the breadth and spectrum of this book. It's contents are astonishingly summarized in it's own title.
I apologize before hand for the lack of high standard of choice of words in the coming sentence, but I have received more "mental hard-ons" from this book that I care to count. Hardly can I state many pivotal moments in my life that are landmarks to which I can say: before this pivot I was a certain way and after it I am another. This book, and René 's work in general, easily constitute several of those pivots.
Truly nothing short of a masterpiece.
I cannot help you by stating anything on the subject matter, for fear of limiting the breadth and spectrum of this book. It's contents are astonishingly summarized in it's own title.
I apologize before hand for the lack of high standard of choice of words in the coming sentence, but I have received more "mental hard-ons" from this book that I care to count. Hardly can I state many pivotal moments in my life that are landmarks to which I can say: before this pivot I was a certain way and after it I am another. This book, and René 's work in general, easily constitute several of those pivots.
November 29, 2017
بالاخره خوندمش!
November 5, 2025
In principle I could just copy-paste my review of La crise du monde moderne because the author primarily reiterates the argument from his 1927 book. In this work, however, he writes a bit less about "tradition" and more about what he dislikes about the contemporary West, which is primarily as the title says quantifying approaches in various sciences.* He polemicizes against psychoanalysis (not surprisingly) and the the theory of relativity, which is not that self-evident because in the field of new religiosities many writers and teachers used it as an argument against classical materialism. Moreover he criticizes all those who according to him have realized the spiritual crisis of the West, but come forth with insufficient responses (Bergson, Henry James, the Rosicrucians). So while Guénon is extremely relativist when it comes to tradition, he is quite absolutist when it comes to denouncing competitors who address the spiritually dissatisfied as well.
* An idea already of central importance for romanticism: "Wenn nicht mehr Zahlen und Figuren/ sind Schlüssel aller Kreaturen..." (Novalis),
* An idea already of central importance for romanticism: "Wenn nicht mehr Zahlen und Figuren/ sind Schlüssel aller Kreaturen..." (Novalis),
April 10, 2021
Une oeuvre boulversante. Difficile de laisser un "avis" sur cette somme doctrinale proposée par René Guénon. La première partie est un peu difficile, elle expose des réalités métaphysique sur la matière, le temps, l'espace ...etc. La deuxième partie aborde un ensemble de subversions et de déviations qui aboutissent à "la crise du monde moderne" que nous vivons.
March 4, 2020
Pseudo-philosophy of history and misunderstading of science.
December 12, 2024
A lot of rambling and tangents and concepts that could be explained much simpler but for the most part an extremely wise and dense book
January 13, 2023
The Book That Can Wake You Up and Ground You
We are living in a materialistic world that is trying to create the less out of the more. It brings all great forms from their supreme state to the inferior state of numbers and mechanics.
People are dragged away from the whole and the supreme. Yet, the apiritual need is inherited in them. Traditions are being deviated and more precisly supdeviated to feed this need without giving up the material and the mechanic. This world has opened the door for "counter traditions" that are nothing but parodies of the absolute spirit. They are disconnected from it and have become satanic and malefic. People can get seduced and lose themselves without return.
"if we want to go to the reality of the deepest order, we can say with all rigor that the "end of the world" is never and can never be anything other than the end of an illusion."
The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times is a book that beats the ryme of unity. It unites Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, and Christianity, declaring that the source is one. It also hints at the fact that Islam is the only tradition that is still holding to truth and that is still connecting humans to the whole. It's no suprise that Rene Quenon has reverted to Islam a few years before his death.
I advice that those who are interested to sale with this book to read the translation of 1972. It is more apparent, and the language level is much better than the recent one above.
We are living in a materialistic world that is trying to create the less out of the more. It brings all great forms from their supreme state to the inferior state of numbers and mechanics.
People are dragged away from the whole and the supreme. Yet, the apiritual need is inherited in them. Traditions are being deviated and more precisly supdeviated to feed this need without giving up the material and the mechanic. This world has opened the door for "counter traditions" that are nothing but parodies of the absolute spirit. They are disconnected from it and have become satanic and malefic. People can get seduced and lose themselves without return.
"if we want to go to the reality of the deepest order, we can say with all rigor that the "end of the world" is never and can never be anything other than the end of an illusion."
The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times is a book that beats the ryme of unity. It unites Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, and Christianity, declaring that the source is one. It also hints at the fact that Islam is the only tradition that is still holding to truth and that is still connecting humans to the whole. It's no suprise that Rene Quenon has reverted to Islam a few years before his death.
I advice that those who are interested to sale with this book to read the translation of 1972. It is more apparent, and the language level is much better than the recent one above.
March 11, 2019
A delightfully unbound philosophical meandering about the loss of tradition in its various manifestations as modernity has took hold of our society. Covering magic, the decline of spirituality, and the corresponding rise of industry, this piece is wildly unconforming.
Before I read it, I read the Wikipedia page and learned that it actually sold quite well upon release, which is absolutely bizarre to me because it's fundamentally incompatible with almost all modern discourse on social/developmental theory. The fact that is was well-received yet disappeared among academics is almost haunting given the topics it deals with.
Rene Guenon is, unfortunately, a genius, a wildly sane man in insane times that have only gotten worse. As the reign of quantity has further solidified itself, it does seem indeed that the world is moving towards the dissolution of time and coming to a sort of 'stop' and 'restart' simultaneously.
My feelings on the specifics of his analysis are mixed, of course, but this book will make you reconsider your values, whatever they are, even if you already agree with the author.
Before I read it, I read the Wikipedia page and learned that it actually sold quite well upon release, which is absolutely bizarre to me because it's fundamentally incompatible with almost all modern discourse on social/developmental theory. The fact that is was well-received yet disappeared among academics is almost haunting given the topics it deals with.
Rene Guenon is, unfortunately, a genius, a wildly sane man in insane times that have only gotten worse. As the reign of quantity has further solidified itself, it does seem indeed that the world is moving towards the dissolution of time and coming to a sort of 'stop' and 'restart' simultaneously.
My feelings on the specifics of his analysis are mixed, of course, but this book will make you reconsider your values, whatever they are, even if you already agree with the author.
March 16, 2021
Molto complesso
February 20, 2025
Much of this book is tedious at best, racist nonsense at worst. The bits on quantitative reasoning are a striking exception. There are many compelling critiques of the severe limitations of Guenon's traditionalism, most damningly those that come from religious studies. His PhD was never accepted, and from the evidence we have of it wasn't especially well-argued. Guenon shines instead as a cultural critic, and dealing with practical advances in quantification forces him to articulate a critique of modernity as governed by slavish devotion to numbers. It is this aspect of his work I will comment on, especially the first quarter of the book, and leave the political and methodological critiques to scholars like Dubuisson and Sedgwick that I broadly agree with.
The first point worth mentioning is his analysis of units and unity. Schematically, the more we think in terms of unity the less we think in terms of units, and vice versa. It doesn't matter if we agree with Guenon's preference for unity, he correctly diagnoses the problem. I read this as close in spirit to Leibniz: aggregates vs monads. The world of monads is preferable, from this perspective, since it is living and vital. Read this as a desideratum for the manifest image: it ought to have vim.
Guenon insists that we give a presuppositional account of quantity. He argues that quantity "explains nothing." What he means, I think, is that quantity doesn't give us explanations we need for certain classes of problems. The kinds of explanations available from quantitative reasoning are reductive, useful insofar as they reduce a seemingly complex problem to a simpler one we know how to solve. Again, we don't need to agree that holism is better than reductionism to notice the two projects are sometimes in tension. He's right: it wasn't until very recently that logicians began to think rigorously about coherent wholes. I don't buy Guenon's claim that holism is intrinsically qualitative, but I suspect he captured a correct intuition - aggregates really aren't prestructured in interesting ways, they only become interesting when we enliven them with an entelechy. What makes prime matter prime is that we care about it.
Finally, consider the motif of a geometrician God: dum Deus calculat et cogitationem exercet, fit mundus. Does God know the location and velocity of all particles? Take the case of the mathematization of spacetime. The world we know from modern physics is probabilistic, where the tradition thinks in terms of certainties. I happen to prefer probabilities to Guenon's certainties, but again he's right that one must fall on one side or the other. Guenon is essentially arguing for a doxastic conservatism: it doesn't matter whether God is a geometer, since the premise presupposes a social relation of separation. Guenon at times reads as an upside down version of Debord: separation is alienating us from the sacred texts, which were basically correct about what it means to be human.
As an argument about canons, it's not idiotic. The question is what counts as a proof - our canon of knowledge about, say, set theory will presumably remain stable. No one seriously argues for effacing Cantor; along the same lines, Guenon thinks no one should surgically remove any part of the tradition. Things get tricky when he specifies what he thinks counts as the tradition. I don't believe that there is in fact a transhistorical unity of all traditions, but if there were to be a transhistorical unity it would have many of the monadic features Guenon describes. The much vaunted metaphysical tradition Guenon insists on appears to just be vitalism, and if so, womp womp. Still, perhaps he's right about what a tradition ought to be, even if one doesn't strictly speaking exist.
I do consider this a book worth exploring. The questions Guenon poses are often sharply articulated, which matters more than his often obscure answers.
The first point worth mentioning is his analysis of units and unity. Schematically, the more we think in terms of unity the less we think in terms of units, and vice versa. It doesn't matter if we agree with Guenon's preference for unity, he correctly diagnoses the problem. I read this as close in spirit to Leibniz: aggregates vs monads. The world of monads is preferable, from this perspective, since it is living and vital. Read this as a desideratum for the manifest image: it ought to have vim.
Guenon insists that we give a presuppositional account of quantity. He argues that quantity "explains nothing." What he means, I think, is that quantity doesn't give us explanations we need for certain classes of problems. The kinds of explanations available from quantitative reasoning are reductive, useful insofar as they reduce a seemingly complex problem to a simpler one we know how to solve. Again, we don't need to agree that holism is better than reductionism to notice the two projects are sometimes in tension. He's right: it wasn't until very recently that logicians began to think rigorously about coherent wholes. I don't buy Guenon's claim that holism is intrinsically qualitative, but I suspect he captured a correct intuition - aggregates really aren't prestructured in interesting ways, they only become interesting when we enliven them with an entelechy. What makes prime matter prime is that we care about it.
Finally, consider the motif of a geometrician God: dum Deus calculat et cogitationem exercet, fit mundus. Does God know the location and velocity of all particles? Take the case of the mathematization of spacetime. The world we know from modern physics is probabilistic, where the tradition thinks in terms of certainties. I happen to prefer probabilities to Guenon's certainties, but again he's right that one must fall on one side or the other. Guenon is essentially arguing for a doxastic conservatism: it doesn't matter whether God is a geometer, since the premise presupposes a social relation of separation. Guenon at times reads as an upside down version of Debord: separation is alienating us from the sacred texts, which were basically correct about what it means to be human.
As an argument about canons, it's not idiotic. The question is what counts as a proof - our canon of knowledge about, say, set theory will presumably remain stable. No one seriously argues for effacing Cantor; along the same lines, Guenon thinks no one should surgically remove any part of the tradition. Things get tricky when he specifies what he thinks counts as the tradition. I don't believe that there is in fact a transhistorical unity of all traditions, but if there were to be a transhistorical unity it would have many of the monadic features Guenon describes. The much vaunted metaphysical tradition Guenon insists on appears to just be vitalism, and if so, womp womp. Still, perhaps he's right about what a tradition ought to be, even if one doesn't strictly speaking exist.
I do consider this a book worth exploring. The questions Guenon poses are often sharply articulated, which matters more than his often obscure answers.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 30, 2022
Este libro es un tanto denso de leer, pero al mismo tiempo es interesante. Manifiesta con términos "técnicos" algunos aspectos de la dualidad cantidad/cualidad que el ser humano ha atravesado en distintas etapas. El autor refiere otros textos como consideraciones de la iniciación, simbolismo de la cruz, el esoterismo de dante y otros más, cuyos contenidos también marcan ese doble aspecto de los fenómenos. Es un libro que se necesita leer lento y revisar otras fuentes para comprender más.
May 27, 2025
Whole lot of yapping that is sometimes right and a lot of times schizophrenic. The parallels drawn are just absurd. It’s as if he had some belief and imposed his belief on the way the world works and there’s always a way to explain anything. Basically he says quantity dissolves quality and the more we look for precise numbers and decimals, the more we bring dissolve ourselves as numbers. I mean perhaps there is truth, but quality is not dissolved, it might be concentrating itself even more onto smaller numbers. But there are no refutals to anything, only rambling. Also quite heavy in turn of phrase and mysticism. Hard to understand because there is so much rambling
June 30, 2023
Wouldn't hurt with a couple examples of what he says, but I guess the book would've been twice as long, so I understand. I'm gonna reread the first couple chapters, because I didn't give them the focuse they needed.
January 12, 2023
The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times is considered to be the magnum opus of René Guénon, much wider in scope compared to the rest of his works. For fuller understanding, it should not be read as a standalone work but rather as a development to the themes of earlier writings, and it should properly be placed in its historical context.
[1] The so-called "Traditionalism", perennial philosophy, and the New Age movements.
Should we really regard René Guénon as "the founder" of a Traditionalist school/movement? Considering the occult background Guénon had in early 20th-century France, we can already see most of his ideas taking crude shape very early on as mirroring those of the esoteric Masonic and Theosophical movement that he was deeply involved with, and which he vehemently criticised during the latter part of his life. Initiatory organisations, ancient wisdom and spirituality, sacred symbolism, cosmology of emanationism: the majority of these are in fact common themes underlying all the circles he got himself involved with.
Much of his early influence is also traced to shaykh ʿAbd al-Hādī al-ʿAqīlī who initiated him into the Shadhili Sufi tariqah and must have introduced him to the metaphysics of Ibn 'Arabi.
I do not see how any of these esoteric movements and teachings that Guénon encountered are particularly unique in their standing. Whether that's the theosophy circle of Blavatsky or the spiritualists, Swedenborgian cult, Rosicrucians, or the philosophically-oriented German idealism... They are just as profound, unique and authentically traditional as today's New Age, neo-Pagan and far-right revivals. "My guru-shaykh from India is better and more spiritual than your Tibetan mystic monk." Yeah, and I am just as much a vested knight of the original Maltese order as you are a 33rd rank Tampler. Guénon understood these things perfectly, yet sadly he remained far too entangled in the grips of elitist cults with claims to absolute truth and authority.
As for sophia perennis, we can trace its universalist doctrines down to the Italian Renaissance of 15th century AD during which Neoplatonic thought had its revival in the attempts of Marsilio Ficino to establish anew the Platonic academy in the city of Florence. The figures of this Italian revival sought to integrate various ancient traditions: Hermeticism with Kabbalah and Christian esotericism, emanationist cosmology of Plotinus with the Aristotelianism of Ibn Rushd [Averroes], and then attempted to read those into the scriptures of the Abrahamic faiths. These attemps of reconciliation and integration are traceable to our age. Further back still, we can draw parallels to ancient Christian Gnosticism. Again, given all of the above considerations, I point out that I would not really consider René Guénon a "founder" in the real sense. He did read and expounded the views of Andalusian thinkers the likes of al-Farabi, Ibn Tufayl and Ibn 'Arabi mixed with Hindu metaphysics of the Vedanta traditions. His historical significance lies mostly on conveying a particuar strand of gnostic teachings in accessible language, given how far behind the West had fallen in this regard.
[2] As pointed out in another of my book reviews, I am quite glad to admit that my obsessions with Guénon and Traditionalist thought is now a page of my personal history. With my conversion to Islam more than three years ago, frankly I found myself in deeply disturbed mental and spiritual state as I was hopelessly trying to reconcile Islamic theological orthodoxy with emanationist cosmology and Far-Eastern metaphysics. There is no such reconciliation, to put it bluntly. Such attempts have long been made since the times of al-Kindi ["the father of Arab philosophy"] and al-Farabi [of Persian descent, known as Alpharabius in the Latin West]. Should we take a glance at Islamic history, it is clearly visible that the disciplines of philosophy and metaphysics never managed to attain the influence and importance as they had for Jewish or Christian theology. Thank God for freeing us from the mind-chains of Plato and his pupil Aristotle. And if any value should lie in Guénon or his followers of the "Traditionalist" strand, it can be found in their efforts of deconstructing and exposing the reality of modern illusions of grandeur.
[1] The so-called "Traditionalism", perennial philosophy, and the New Age movements.
Should we really regard René Guénon as "the founder" of a Traditionalist school/movement? Considering the occult background Guénon had in early 20th-century France, we can already see most of his ideas taking crude shape very early on as mirroring those of the esoteric Masonic and Theosophical movement that he was deeply involved with, and which he vehemently criticised during the latter part of his life. Initiatory organisations, ancient wisdom and spirituality, sacred symbolism, cosmology of emanationism: the majority of these are in fact common themes underlying all the circles he got himself involved with.
Much of his early influence is also traced to shaykh ʿAbd al-Hādī al-ʿAqīlī who initiated him into the Shadhili Sufi tariqah and must have introduced him to the metaphysics of Ibn 'Arabi.
I do not see how any of these esoteric movements and teachings that Guénon encountered are particularly unique in their standing. Whether that's the theosophy circle of Blavatsky or the spiritualists, Swedenborgian cult, Rosicrucians, or the philosophically-oriented German idealism... They are just as profound, unique and authentically traditional as today's New Age, neo-Pagan and far-right revivals. "My guru-shaykh from India is better and more spiritual than your Tibetan mystic monk." Yeah, and I am just as much a vested knight of the original Maltese order as you are a 33rd rank Tampler. Guénon understood these things perfectly, yet sadly he remained far too entangled in the grips of elitist cults with claims to absolute truth and authority.
As for sophia perennis, we can trace its universalist doctrines down to the Italian Renaissance of 15th century AD during which Neoplatonic thought had its revival in the attempts of Marsilio Ficino to establish anew the Platonic academy in the city of Florence. The figures of this Italian revival sought to integrate various ancient traditions: Hermeticism with Kabbalah and Christian esotericism, emanationist cosmology of Plotinus with the Aristotelianism of Ibn Rushd [Averroes], and then attempted to read those into the scriptures of the Abrahamic faiths. These attemps of reconciliation and integration are traceable to our age. Further back still, we can draw parallels to ancient Christian Gnosticism. Again, given all of the above considerations, I point out that I would not really consider René Guénon a "founder" in the real sense. He did read and expounded the views of Andalusian thinkers the likes of al-Farabi, Ibn Tufayl and Ibn 'Arabi mixed with Hindu metaphysics of the Vedanta traditions. His historical significance lies mostly on conveying a particuar strand of gnostic teachings in accessible language, given how far behind the West had fallen in this regard.
[2] As pointed out in another of my book reviews, I am quite glad to admit that my obsessions with Guénon and Traditionalist thought is now a page of my personal history. With my conversion to Islam more than three years ago, frankly I found myself in deeply disturbed mental and spiritual state as I was hopelessly trying to reconcile Islamic theological orthodoxy with emanationist cosmology and Far-Eastern metaphysics. There is no such reconciliation, to put it bluntly. Such attempts have long been made since the times of al-Kindi ["the father of Arab philosophy"] and al-Farabi [of Persian descent, known as Alpharabius in the Latin West]. Should we take a glance at Islamic history, it is clearly visible that the disciplines of philosophy and metaphysics never managed to attain the influence and importance as they had for Jewish or Christian theology. Thank God for freeing us from the mind-chains of Plato and his pupil Aristotle. And if any value should lie in Guénon or his followers of the "Traditionalist" strand, it can be found in their efforts of deconstructing and exposing the reality of modern illusions of grandeur.
May 5, 2018
This book was actually written back in 1945, more than 70 Years has passed this book and the message contained herein is very prophetic. The book starts off with the foundations of his particular philosophy, showing briefly what Traditional Metaphysics understood and how Modernity has begun the process of eroding these understandings, and while it seems each chapter can be read almost stand-alone, the chapters flow seamlessly from concept to concept and chapter to chapter. By the time you get to midway of the book you have moved from the particulars and more precise fine points to the consequences on the culture and history.
By the time you get to the end of the book you have moved from the cultural implications to the more spiritual and eschatological implications, and like a true prophetic voice he does not give us exact dates, but he does describe the nature of certain turning-points and the steps as we move toward the end of the world, which he in an ironic twist calls it the end of illusions and rectification or restoration of the Divine Order, thereby showing that things will not be just left in dissolution and destruction but rather that evils apparent triumph will only be that: Apparent, thereby showing in deep philosophical thought and using all the wisdom traditions the triumph of Good over Evil at all levels.
While I cannot recommend this book for everyone because of its depth, I desire to recommend it to everyone in part to help those who want to be agents of Restoration and the Transcendent to not fall into deception nor despair, despite the hour we are in, again this book was written in 1945, 70 Years has passed, looking at our culture today the book should be renamed, "Here's Why We Are Here, Here is How We Got Here, and How To Get Out of It"
By the time you get to the end of the book you have moved from the cultural implications to the more spiritual and eschatological implications, and like a true prophetic voice he does not give us exact dates, but he does describe the nature of certain turning-points and the steps as we move toward the end of the world, which he in an ironic twist calls it the end of illusions and rectification or restoration of the Divine Order, thereby showing that things will not be just left in dissolution and destruction but rather that evils apparent triumph will only be that: Apparent, thereby showing in deep philosophical thought and using all the wisdom traditions the triumph of Good over Evil at all levels.
While I cannot recommend this book for everyone because of its depth, I desire to recommend it to everyone in part to help those who want to be agents of Restoration and the Transcendent to not fall into deception nor despair, despite the hour we are in, again this book was written in 1945, 70 Years has passed, looking at our culture today the book should be renamed, "Here's Why We Are Here, Here is How We Got Here, and How To Get Out of It"
May 29, 2018
From the beginning until the end, this book is very intense and intellectually challenging. Not typical kind of book that only gives you information but it makes you think critically about what happen to us as a being, our purposes and problems in our time (just as he said about his book The Crisis of the Modern World). Yup, he definitely succeeds in changing my view on how to see the world.
Definitely, this book is like a further reading or explanation on Sayyid Naquīb Al Attās’ view on modern world and his metaphysics is somewhat same as the Sufis view (as far as I concerned).
May Allāh bless Sidi René Guénon or Sidi Abdul Wāhid Yahyā. Bisirr Al Fātihah.
Definitely, this book is like a further reading or explanation on Sayyid Naquīb Al Attās’ view on modern world and his metaphysics is somewhat same as the Sufis view (as far as I concerned).
May Allāh bless Sidi René Guénon or Sidi Abdul Wāhid Yahyā. Bisirr Al Fātihah.
October 3, 2023
Junto con autores como Schuon, Eliade, Coomaraswamy o el infame Julius Evola, Guenon es la quintaesencia de la filosofía "tradicionalista". Un movimiento complejo, con tantas cabezas como la hidra de lerma. Todavía hay muchos debates al respecto de su legado, que en ocasiones parece terrorífico (Alexander Dugin) y otras de alto voltaje reflexivo (Eliade).
Este libro es un ejemplo del pensamiento medievalista y teológico, a veces incluso escolástico, que anima la obra de un autor extraño.
Postdata: Véase mi crítica al respecto de "Oriente y Occidente" del mismo autor.
Este libro es un ejemplo del pensamiento medievalista y teológico, a veces incluso escolástico, que anima la obra de un autor extraño.
Postdata: Véase mi crítica al respecto de "Oriente y Occidente" del mismo autor.
October 12, 2007
This was a required reading for my Business Ethics course, and I ended up loving it. Never thinking I would enjoy a philosophy class about Business, I was pleasantly surprised with this, and other selections for the course.
At various points throughout numerous debates with mr. Eric, I still pull this text off the shelf.
My favorite concept learned from this book is that of svadharma And I have cited it in various comp lit courses since!
At various points throughout numerous debates with mr. Eric, I still pull this text off the shelf.
My favorite concept learned from this book is that of svadharma And I have cited it in various comp lit courses since!
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