Customer Reviews (3)

Counterpoint to positivist / behaviorist poli-sci
Modernity Without Restraint comprises three overlapping essays / lectures by Voegelin in which he explores the "pneumopathological" effects of Gnostic beliefs on the individual and the society they infect. Voegelin intended them to target gnostic elements in the ideologies of two of the totalitarian movements of his time, Fascism and Communism, though they bear a chilling relevance to the current intermingling of right wing politics and evangelical Christianism in contemporary American political culture. His style can be difficult, his vocabulary (translated from the German) can seem strange at times (e.g., "pneumopathology," "immanentization"), and his central theme of the importance of ordering the individual soul, and society at large, in harmony with a "transcendent order of being" could be initially off-putting to a "social scientist," but his thesis, well supported and argued through a synopsis of relevant thinkers and topics from the history of religion, philosophy and social science, provides an interesting and broadening counterpoint to "modern" positivist / realist / behaviorist influences in political science and social science generally. Though much of Voegelin's argument centers around the importance of spirituality for the individual and society, and connection to a transcendent order that is "given," "Modernity Without Restraint" provides a timeless warning against "immanentization of the (Christian) eschaton," the spiritual and practical consequences for any society that succumbs to it.

Deep and Profound
For those of you who are new to Voegelin perhaps a word generally about his work will be helpful.Voegelin was born in Cologne, Germany in 1901.In 1938, he and his wife fled from Germany to the United States.From this context alone it is not surprising that Voegelin is very critical of the Nazis in particular and totalitarian regimes in general.What is perhaps more surprising to those who first come across Voegelin is his claim that regimes such as the Nazis are derivatives of such generally loved intellectual movements as the Enlightenment and Progressivism.

Taken together, the three works published in this volume provide a good basis for understanding how Voegelin comes to this conclusion.In this regard, "The New Science of Politics" is probably the most comprehensive work of the three.However, I would make two suggestions to those who are considering tackling this volume.First, read the first and third (that is, "The Political Religions" and "Science, Politics, and Gnosticism") before reading "The New Science of Politics".I think that the first and third pieces are much easier to read, even though they are less encompassing overall.Second, read "The New Science of Politics" twice.I read that installment for the first time about a year ago and I feel that I understood a lot more the second time around.

Voegelin is a great thinker, and his works in this volume provide a different, and yet very profound way of looking at modern Western society.I think Voegelin's construction of Gnosticism is right on as a critique of the modern psyche.I would recommend this book to anyone looking to explore the work of Voegelin; this is a great place to start.The writing is fairly difficult, but you don't have to understand everything to take a lot from this book.

Gnosticism and Political Religions.
_Modernity Without Restraint_ presents three of Erik Voegelin's essays on the modern political religions, including Marxism, National Socialism, Hegelianism, Nietzschianism, and Heideggerianism.To Voegelin, these thinkers are all best described as "gnostics" and in their effort to create God's Kingdom on Earth seek to "immanentize the Christian eschaton".In "The Political Religions", Voegelin traces back the origin of political religion to the Egyptian worship of the Sun, the cult of Akhenaton.He traverses the history of the Middle Ages, and he shows how the archetype of the Christian apocalypse (a heresy to the orthodox Christian) came to occupy a central role in political religion.He includes a good discussion of the leviathanic state of Thomas Hobbes.Finally he ends with a compelling picture of the National Socialist state embodied in the Fuehrer.Although he was criticized in this essay for not outrightly condemning the National Socialists, Voegelin stated that this in fact just reveals the satanic allure that this political religion holds.To Voegelin, National Socialism is "satanic".In "The New Science of Politics", Voegelin examines various modes of representation from Plato and Aristotle through the Roman Empire.He then discusses the idea of gnosticism; he views the modern political religions as a restoration of the Gnostic heresy (condemned by early Christianity), an attempt to replace faith with certainty and bring about the Kingdom of God on Earth.This idea arose in the apocalyptic tradition, transmitted through the Middle Ages by the followers of Joachim de Fiore.He discusses in particular the case of the English Puritans.According to Voegelin, the modern political philosophies of liberalism, communism, and the philosophy of Thomas Hobbes are under the spell of gnosticism.In "Science, Politics, and Gnosticism", the most interesting of the essays presented, Voegelin delves into the thinkers Hegel, Marx ("an intellectual swindler"), Nietzsche ("the murder of God"), Heidegger, and psychoanalysis and National Socialism.To Voegelin, these thinkers are all "gnostics", and the movements spurred by their philosophies are "ersatz religions".

Voegelin represents an interesting alternative to modernity and liberalism.And this book among his collected works serves as an excellent introduction to the thought of this profound thinker, philosopher of gnosticism. ... Read more

Product Description
Although his contributions to philosophy are revered and his writings have been collected, Eric Voegelin s persona will inevitably fade with the memories of those who knew him. This book preserves the human element of Voegelin by capturing those personal recollections. Cooper and Bruhn conducted interviews with Voegelin s wife, his closest friends, and his first-generation students. Episodes of pathos, humor, fear, rivalry, and ambition are interwoven throughout the accounts. We witness Voegelin s persistent and partly self-imposed communication problems and impatience with administrative duties; his respect for prudent political actors and public servants; and his genuine affection not only for his colleagues and best students but also for diligent secretaries and empathetic nurses. Key elements of his personality repeatedly emerge: his intelligence, optimism, and integrity, combined with an acute perception of the significance of his work. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An Affectionate Memorial
I have just finished reading "Voegelin Recollected--Conversations on a Life," edited by Barry Cooper and Jodi Bruhn (U. of Missouri Press,2008) 292 pp plus index, chronology and select photos.

The book consists of transcripts of interviews conducted by Cooper in the US and Bruhn in Germany.This involved extensive travel.Bruhn also translated the German language interviews.Some of the interviews must have taken place at an annual convention of the American Political Science Association, while the contributors were in attendance.

The book is organized in a surprising yet effective way.The chronology is reversed, the interviews running from Voegelin's death backwards to his early years as an academic. (Voegelin was born in 1901 and died in 1985.)The chronology is divided into four periods: Stanford, Munich, Louisiana and Vienna. There is also a chapter for Notre Dame, where he taught every third semester or so to protect his American citizenship while he was at Munich and continued the relationship for ten years after that.Not surprisingly, the Munich years are given the greater weight, because this was the time when he had the most intense interaction with graduate assistants and other students as well as his most intense interaction with the surrounding milieu (The "Hitler and the Germans" lectures).By comparison, the Vienna years are sparsely covered.

You can add Barry Cooper and Jodi Bruhn (who was then Jodi Cockerill) to the list of contributors, because their questions are often revealing commentaries based on their own knowledge of Voegelin.

I don't think Bruhn is old enough to have known Voegelin personally, but she brings an insight into human character and occasionally asks questions that deal with personal aspects of Voegelin's relationships. One example:Michael Hereth, an early student, believed many of Voegelin's students in Munich saw EV as a father-figure.In a number of instances, their own fathers had been killed in World War II.

This would tend to explain the still evident bitterness of Manfred Henningsen in his 1995 interview, although his break with Voegelin (which he describes) had taken place a quarter century earlier.

Lissy Voegelin tells us much about their life together for over fifty years.She was a wonderful wife for Eric.She accepted a life of being the "Frau Professor" and did everything for him.He didn't answer the phone or take out the trash.Later when he became relatively wealthy from stock market speculation, he tried to make it up to her for their many years of near penury. Paul Caringella helps Lissy with her recollections.It becomes evident that he had become her loving son and cared for her like no one else.

Tilo Schabert is one of the better contributors.His memory seems to be especially good.The personality of Reinhold Knoll, a true Viennese scholar and gentleman, comes across warmly in his commentary. I hadn't known that his parents were friends of EV back in the 1920's. Ellis Sandoz, a student of Voegelin from 1949 and general editor of the 34 volume Collected Works, provides a steadying voice that helps maintain perspective.

There are some funny stories, like the time when Miss Germany enrolled in EV's class. Or when the student asked EV whether Justinian preceded or followed Socrates.

I was surprised to learn that Bruno Schlesinger, distinguished head of the Christian Culture program at St. Mary's Notre Dame, had been a student of EV in Vienna in the early '30's.

There are certain thematic questions which recur through the book. One is EV's religion.To one student who could not deal with the trappings of Christianity, he said, "Christ is a true myth."This seems to have brought relief to the student, to have cut the Gordian knot. Some thought he was an agnostic.Some a sort of Lutheran. Many assumed he was Catholic and his position in Munich was likely procured for him by Bavarian Catholics who thought so.

Another theme is his demeanor towards others. He was courtly at times (One remembered him as having dance student manners "Tanzstudent"!) and he could be nasty if he thought you were a provocateur (A tale told by Walter Nicgorski, former editor of the Review of Politics). Glenn Hughes also tells a horrendous tale.

Quite unexpected are the accounts of the reasons for his decision to become an American.Apparently EV considered his flight from Vienna to be a life-altering exodus of the spirit from the land of Egypt. One way he expressed his gratitude for finding a new life in America was his apparent contentment with his living conditions.He never complained about anything when he was at LSU, according to his long time secretary, Joe Scurria (who emerges as a capable "gal Friday" and the only one who, even at the time of the interview, could read all his manuscripts).He would have preferred a better position at Yale or at Johns Hopkins (The latter position torpedoed, apparently on good evidence, by no one less than Leo Strauss).

When he returned to Munich, he returned as an American, not as a German refugee coming home. It was said he read the Herald Tribune rather than the Munich papers.He apparently did not bind himself to the society of Munich and remained aloof.As one person put it, EV would have been happiest in a boat anchored in the middle of the Atlantic. Apparently with his inaugural lecture he managed to alienate many of his Catholic supporters. As a politician, he was inept or disinterested, and in either case the result was the same: he saw his dream of a Voegelin school in Munich erode to a point where he was ready to leave. Richard Allen worked to create a position for him at the Hoover Institution and he was happy to accept it following his mandatory retirement.

Friendship is another recurring theme.Those interviewed seem to agree that he had no friends (except possibly Alfred Schütz or Gregor Sebba) in the sense of unguarded exchanges between sympathetic equals. Robert B. Heilman is interviewed and adds a few new notes to his long essay about EV.Heilman was a formidable scholar of English literature and yet was saddened by his inability to think and talk with EV at his own level.Quite different was EV's relationship with Strauss.It is brought out here, and evident in their published correspondence, that EV was open and enthusiastic and detailed while Strauss was quite the opposite.Apparently at Notre Dame EV spent a lot of time in the faculty cafeteria with Anton Herman Chroust, whom I remember as rumpled and unshaven and dirty, though certainly a genius. A picture is drawn here of the sartorially splendid EV passing the time with the grungy Tony Chroust.

In the book there is a photo of EV sitting in a lounge chair at Notre Dame. No exact location is given but I think I recognize the coffee urn in the background soI am guessing the photo was taken in the law student lounge at the law school, a few paces from the auditorium where EV lectured.

At the end of the book there is a chapter listing the 52 contributors and it gives a sentence or two about their careers and present whereabouts. Most of the interviews were conducted between 1995 and 1997.I didn't realize this until I reached the contributor list and was surprised and a little shocked to read remarks such as "He died in April 2005."

One would like to know why ten years passed before this book finally appeared.We are told there was an attempt to organize the book by topics and that didn't work.That alone would have consumed time. Perhaps the editors needed an inspiration and that proved to be the idea of the reverse chronology.

What we do know is that they conducted their interviews before it was too late.

I believe this book will become the affectionate memorial to Eric Voegelin.

Highly recommended. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A thoughtful interpretation of the American Founding
Dr. Sandoz provides insight to the philosophical foundations of the American Founding. He points to several main influences including John Locke, Medieval Christianity, and Classical Philosophy. Sandoz shows the importance of political obligation as instilled through a sense of common moral virtue. He ultimately commends the common sense of the founders and shows us why other systems have failed. A key point is the differentiation found between religion and the secular matters of government. In stark contrast to "political religions" the founders set their sights on the obtainable goal of toleration and liberty without claiming to be able to perfect the world (marxism, communism). Overall, Sandoz rejects the secular interpretation of the founding and gives strong evidence that the founders valued religion quite highly and thought it an important foundation for society. He does not fall into the trap of finding a "single strand" of thought to explain the founding, but instead points to several key influences. Sandoz is able to make his case in common sense terms and offers humor throughout, while still maintaining a deep level of insight. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in American Founding and especially the philosophical influences that brought it about.


... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Making difficult political theory concepts understandable
As a former student of Dr. Federici, I can attest to his remarkable wielding of complicated subject material in the classroom; making difficult political concepts understandable. Out of a combined interest in civilizational cycles and respect for the author, I purchased this book. Dr. Federici conveyed his personal talent for expository. Eric Voegelin's difficulty for readers makes him nearly untouchable for undergraduates, nonetheless this book is written in a way that allows students and the public at large to access and understand Voegelin's writings. I recommend this book for college students seeking a source to write a political theory essay of unique perspective. I also believe it valuable for philosophy buffs and academics who may have overlooked Voegelin's work in the past.

extremely helpful guide to Voegelin
Because he had so much to say about the crisis of the West and how to restore order, it is unfortunate that Voegelin's writings are so dense, owing both to his abstract thinking and his coining of new terms, often in Greek.However, Federici has written an excellent book that functions wonderfully as an introduction to Voegelin's thought and that would be an excellent companion to have by your side when reading Voegelin himself.(The glossary of Voegelinian terms is especially helpful in this regard.)

Even so, because Voegelin's work is so difficult, so loaded with new terms and complicated ideas, Federici's book also acquires an element of this density--probably unavoidable, but clarity does suffer somewhat at various points.Nevertheless, what emerges--even in the less clear parts--is a coherent picture of the corpus of Voegelin's work and thought.He sought to articulate a way out of a crisis that had been precipitated, by and large, by movements, particularly ideologies, that had distorted reality--for example, by immanentizing the transcendent.His solution, to put it extremely simply, was to revive Western tradition, largely through a greater openness of the soul to transcendent reality, to the past experiences of civilization.

Voegelin was not without his critics, but his influence is far-reaching.Anyone interested in the disease that afflicts the West would do well to turn to Voegelin.And thanks to Federici, we now have a great starting point to do just that. ... Read more

Book Description
Eros, Wisdom, and Silence is a close reading of Plato's Seventh Letter and his dialogues Symposium and Phaedrus, with significant attention also given to Alcibiades I. A book about love, James Rhodes's work was conceived as a conversation and meant to be read side by side with Plato's works and those of his worthy interlocutors. It invites lovers to participate in conversations that move their souls to love, and it also invites the reader to take part in the author's dialogues with Plato and his commentators. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Classical Consensus: Reason and Revelation
Eric Voegelin's monumental historical masterpiece encompass a series of 5volumes of a new vision of a theoretical history.Voegelin's Israel andRevelation approached the question of revelation from a highlysophisticated view of revelation as part of a historical context.Thetraditional theological analysis imparts only a limited dimension to thehistorical reality of revelation.Voegelin's theoretical conception takesus to the heart of revelation as a human activity that created adiscontinuity from the the secular world view.He carefully used theBiblical account of revelation against a scholarly approach to revelationthat is grounded in the order of being, i.e., the order that reflected thesymbolism of revelation.He pointed out the inherent limitations ofconfusing the order of revelation with the pragmatic dimensions of thehuman existence couple with confusing revelation as a "secondreality" experience.Voegelininvestigation in the historicalfigures of revelation and the complex relationship that must be mastered tokeep the religious tension with the order of being and pragmatic structureof human existence.A very absorbing book anda great understanding ofrevelation in a historical context. ... Read more

Book Description
First published in 1968, Science, Politics and Gnosticism comprises two essays by Eric Voegelin (1901-85), arguably one of the most provocative and influential political philosophers of the last century. In these essays, Voegelin contends that certain modern movements, including positivism, Hegelianism, Marxism, and the "God is dead" school, are variants of the gnostic tradition he identified in his classic work The New Science of Politics. Voegelin attempts to resolve the intellectual confusion that has resulted from the dominance of gnostic thought by clarifying the distinction between political gnosticism and the philosophy of politics. Including an introduction by the noted Voegelin scholar Ellis Sandoz, this book's brief exposition of key Voegelinian concepts makes it especially valuable for those seeking a deeper understanding of the fundamental thrust of Voegelin's thought. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Great guide to modern politics
Voegelin has done the public a great service by tracing a common thread of gnosticism amongst modern political philosophies.He goes to Marx's juwish roots in order to expose the theme of the golem that underlies Marxian thought as laid out in Marx's Political and Economic Manuscripts.The Kabbalistic underpinnings of socialistic philosophy forecasts these philosophies as gnostic philosophies.

Although Voegelin indulges in almost pure abstraction (characterisitic of his German education) it is quite accurate since it exposes the naked truth a la Jack Kerouac of these ideas.

The gnostic character of modern philosophies, such as Hegel, Comte, Marx, feminism and so on comes out in the theme of "alienation."Alienation from the rest of society is the result of some form of discord or disharmony.Recourse to a "secret knowledge" will reveal the solution to this problem of disharmony.Applying this secret knowledge will result in an "immanenitizing of the eschaton."

The last concept comes from Roman Catholic scholarship in defining the heresy of gnosticism.In article 676 of the Catholic catechism, it says that: "The AntiChrist's deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgment.The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism, especially the "intrinsically perverse" political form of a secular messianism."Voegelin says that gnosticism tries to bring about a heaven on earth or "immanentize the eschaton."When Kabbalists such as Marx go to the tree of life to get enlightenment to solve problems here and now, zen buddhist like, he tries to be the divine savior of himself.

Thus, Marxism is gnostic since it teaches of alienation of the proletariat whose special knowledge of communism, as embodied in the communist manifesto, assists him in remedying this defect in the socio-economic structure, this disharmony, and the very possibility of this ability to heal his own problem is an immanentizing of the eschaton, of creating heaven on earth without God's help.

The feminist argues that there is discord in the social structure due to patriarchy.The special knowledge of the superiority of matriarchy will remedy this and bring an end to wars, domination and so on.Thus, female chauvanism is to replace male chauvanism (clearly reaching a hypocritical end).

This is just the icing on the cake.Voegelin goes through many ideas, but the aforementioned summary constitutes a common theme uniting all of his discussion in this terse yet dense book.

A lucid yet in-depth scrutiny of the interplay of complex ideals
Science, Politics & Gnosticism presents two essays, the title piece, "Science, Politics & Gnosticism", and "Ersatz Religion: The Gnostic Mass Movements of Our Time" by Eric Voegelin (1901-85), one of the most influential political philosophers of the twentieth century. Voegelin contends that certain modern movements, including positivism, Hegelianism, Marxism, and the "God is dead" school are variants of the gnostic tradition. Striving to settle the confusion that arises from the dominance of gnostic thought, Voegelin further strives to classify distinctions between political gnosticism and the philosophy of politics. A lucid yet in-depth scrutiny of the interplay of complex ideals and their reverbations upon mass political movements, Science, Politics & Gnosticism is especially recommended reading for advanced students of philosophy and political science.

Political Science on a Rack
Oh, the visionary has a new system to save the world? Put that in section II B, tray 5, right next to the same idea that sprouted 1000 years ago under a different name.
Voegelin has boiled down the rules for understanding all secular visions of salvation, which invariably play on some human dissatisfaction, the diagnosis of which always omits a key "given" of human nature, which is thus marketed as changeable, but isn't, leading to fanatical attempts to control people, devolving into scaring them into submission with the threat of death.
The opposite of the Christian love ethic which posits a brotherhood in relation to a heavenly Father, according to Voegelin.
Voegelin here achieves a scientific method of explaining how non-christian ideas relate to Christian ideas of social organization. He was very popular in Cold War times, but is also versatile enough here to help with the great conversation we are all having in relation to terrorism. This book is simple, direct and profound.

The Murder of God and other Exhilarating Ideas
These two essays describe the inability of modern political thought to get a grip on the confusion and horror of the 20th century, mainly because that thought itself has not been immune from the very disorders it seeks to study. The roots of modern disorder are found in "Gnosticism," which is usually defined narrowly as a form of Christian heresy, but thought of by Voegelin as a typical response to the universal human problems of uncertainty, meaninglessness and alienation. Thus seemingly disparate movements like communism, fascism and positivism are placed within a Gnostic tradition stretching back to antiquity.

After describing the characteristics of ancient Gnosticism, Voegelin defines his own approach to the "science of politics," derived mainly from Plato and Aristotle. He then proceeds to analyze thinkers such as Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche and Heidegger and to isolate what he feels to be their dominant motives. The one great theme of all Gnosticisms, ancient or modern, is the desire to do away with the notion of a given, "objective" world. If the project of world-transformation is to be made plausible, then nothing can be seen to be outside of human power. Social reality is a constructed thing, not a thing given or found, thereby allowing it to be "deconstructed."

In the second, shorter essay, "Ersatz Religion," Voegelin describes the complex of ideas characteristic of modern Gnosticism such as millenialism, utopianism and positivism. As the title of the essay suggests, the religious impulse does not die after the murder of God; it gets redirected into "political religions." Politics then becomes a matter of belief and fanaticism, instead of rational discourse and debatable opinions. Despite the abstractness of some of its theoretical concerns, this book is very readable and jargon-free. Those with no prior reading in philosophy may need to look up a term now and again such as "ontology." I recommend it as a good, short introduction to the kind of sober and ordered thought that we so desperately need after the century of Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot.

A great place to start
Eric Voegelin was one of the most profound philosophers of history of the twentieth century. More than any other thinker I know, he was able to articulate a body of thought that recognizes the human need for a groundingin transcendent truth and analyses the vicissitudes of the inevitablesearch for meaning. His work deserves to be widely read, but perhapsbecause of its imposing bulk--his masterwork, "Order andHistory," weighs in at five fat volumes of complex reasoning, vividexegeses of the symbolic forms of the past five thousand years, and indepthand illuminating readings of philosophers from Parmenides to Heidegger--itis not. "Science, Politics, and Gnosticism" is a perfect horsd'oeuvre of a book, and serves well not as a systematic introduction to thefull scope of his vision but as a tasty morsel of his maturing thought at acrucial point in his oeuvre. Voegelin's incisive critique of ideologicalthinking in this book is lucid and mercifully accessible. I would hope thata reader comes away from this potent little classic inspired to dig deeperinto the mine of wisdom that Voegelin's work offers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Referent for Life
The world is a fortunate place when there are two people alive -- at the same time -- who understand Plato.Eric Voegelin was clearly one of those people in the twentieth century.This material was originally published as Volume 3 of Order and History, the core of the magnus opus that Voegelin chose to publish during his life time.

I met Eric Voegelin once as a graduate student, and asked him, "why'd you publish all this stuff?"I've been digesting his answer ever since. It was "to resist totality and totalitarianism."

Particularly, seen from this standpoint, a clear core of this book is his articulation of the Platonic concept of "metaxy," or the in-between character of life.In philosophical terms, this refers most directly and fully to "in-between" the Agathon (e.g., see myth of the cave and the Divided Line in the Republic) and the apeiron (explored most directly and deeply in the Timaeus). For the philosophically uninitiated, it is possible to speak of this in more mundane terms.

An unstated corollary of Plato's notion of the "metaxy" is that life is always larger than our categories.From a Socratic/Platonic perspective, this may include but will entail more than the epistemological recognition that every way of seeing is a way of not seeing.The notion of the "metaxy" is most fundamentally a linguistic indice pointing to ontological plenty as the ground of life, albeit lived within bounds of existential scarcity.This is a notion commonly shared by the great civilizations of East and West.The notion of the "metaxy" underscores that life is lived within a tension between the "transcendent" and "immanent" dimensions of being.

When we lose track of this tension, as we have to a great extent in the modern world, and subscribe to reductive ideological notions/understandings of life -- and most particularly, when we imagine that we can encapsulate life within the pride of our own "enlightened" categories -- on a political plane, there may be little to constrain the prideful actions of ideologies, irrespective of whether their clothing is Red or Black, or whether it is "left" or "right." Irrespective of the political stripe, repression and murder become "justified" in the pursuit of an ideological aim -- which in Voegelin's philosophical terms is to dissolve the "metaxy" in the usual modernist mode, through immanetizing the transcendent "eschaton."

Voegelin's philosophical terms may sound remarkably abstract to the modern ear (recall Robert Dahl's silly review of Voegelin's The New Science of Politics for the American Political Science journal).Facile critiques such as Dahl's typically focus on the unfamiliar language while overlooking the elementary fact that what Voegelin is asking us to do in every aspect of his work is to take a journey that precisely allows us to see the world in terms other than that of our inherited climate of opinion.For those willing to be thorough scholars rather than merely play at it within the context of given suppositions, Voegelin's scholarship offers new vistas and incredibly rich fields of study.His scholarship offers the capacity to reflect upon and act in the world in a substantively grounded mode with implications for every discipline (see e.g., A.G. Ramos' New Science of Organizations).

I submit that a key to understanding this text and the greater body of his work at large is to grasp the central significance of the "metaxy" -- not as a concept within the history of ideas -- but as a life referent of perennial relevance to the recurring challenge of resisting sophistic pretensions and the inherited or emergent ideologies of any time and place.

This text demands a great deal.You'll develop insights into Plato and Aristotle available no where else.But for Voegelin, such studies were never a matter of antiquarian interest.They were a matter of developing meaningful referents for life.The value in this text is precisely in its yield, capable of resonating throughout your life and offering far more than the initial effort it will require of you. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (7)

A Great Intro to Voegelin
This was the first of Voegelin's works that I ever read, and I think it is a great intro to his thought.First of all, "The New Science of Politics" is one of his more important works.His construction of modern gnosticism within this piece is a very significant challenge to the foundation values that are the hallmark of modernity.

If this is the first of Voegelin's works that you will be reading, and if you're anything like me, this will be a very hard book to get through.The writing is very hard, and that is compounded by the fact that the concepts being discussed are so profound.If you get a vague idea of what Voegelin is trying to say after reading this book then you are doing just fine.I read this book first, and then read Modernity Without Restraint: The Political Religions, The New Science of Politics, and Science, Politics, and Gnosticism (Collected Works of Eric Voegelin, Volume 5), which includes this book along with two others related to modern gnosticism.I learned a lot more and understood Voegelin a lot more clearly the second time I read this work; so if you find yourself confused, keep on going and you'll get there...

A couple other of Voegelin's collected works that deal with the topic of modern gnosticism are: Published Essays: 1940-1952 (Collected Works of Eric Voegelin, Volume 10); Published Essays: 1953-1965 (The Collected Works of Eric Voegelin, Volume 11); and Published Essays: 1966-1985 (The Collected Works of Eric Voegelin, Volume 12).The last of those three deals with modern gnosticism the least, so start with the first two if you're looking for addition material.

Voegelin is a great thinker and his work is very challenging.Yet I think his ideas contain profound truths that moderns like us would do well to consider.Five stars for a classic piece of conservative political philosophy.

A Masterful Synthesis
Eric Voegelin, who died in 1985, is one of the giants of intellectual history and political philosophy.Unfortunately, he is far less well-recognized outside of a small scholarly community than some of the poseurs who foist quack theories on the public under the guise of "political philosophy."The New Science of Politics, based on Voegelin's Walgreen Lectures, can be read as a theoretical companion to his magisterial Order and History, a five-volume elaboration of the theories presented here.Voegelin provides an examination of political community and its representations through symbolic appropriation and the underlying basis of political order throughout history.Equally, Voegelin deals with misappropriation of symbols in the form of Gnosticism, which emerged at the dawn of the middle ages.His diagnostic exercise leads to an examination of modernity, which is characterized by advance and decline, the nature of of our own times.Modernist movements such as Nazism and Communism embody gnostic misappropriation of the symbolization of order.Writing in the immediate postwar period as an Austrian refugee from Hitler, with a command of ancient and modern philosophy and history and access to documentation in a dozen languages, Voegelin both lays the foundation for a return to the Aristotelean tradition of political philosophy and analysis and provides the personal witness of a research physician who has examined the patient at close hand.There is no better short book in our times for accomplishing Dr. Johnson's admonition to clear your mind of cant, or providing a sound basis for recognizing the corruption of intellectual and personal standards in current politics and scholarship, or the infection of scholarship by extremist politics.Voegelin has a number of brilliant students carrying on his work.However, unlike acolytes of Leo Strauss and Allan Bloom and their neo-conservative entourage, who represent a very different and self-referential strain in modern political analysis, Voegelin's students have not populated the high offices of government.Given the power of Voegelin's model presented in The New Science of Politics, I expect and hope that his long-term influence will weigh decisively in the war on modernity and its pernicious supporting social science-based infrastructure.To understand the contours of the problem, The New Science of Politics is an indispensible guide and a model of elegant anlysis and writing.

Not perfect, but still brilliant
"The New Science of Politics" is the best short work in the oeurve of the great philosopher and political scientist Eric Voegelin. In it he describes, among other things, an effective methodology for studying the political experiences of peoples; the philosophical errors at the roots of scientism and positive social sciences, which seek to apply an irrelevant mathematical method to human behavior, which can only be comprehended on it's own terms; the existential underpinnings of virutally every revolutionary ideology the West has ever known in a spiritual revolt against the nature of human existence; and the dynamics of the kinds of political movements that arise from such experiences. This is nothing less that an attempt to ground human political life in an existential philosophy and to contruct from that understanding a method for rigourously and accurately studying those patterns of life. Voegelin's book is a milestone in human thought and a light in the abyssal darkness of Modernity.

Still, it is not without it's flaws. Voegelin persistently and completely misread Nietzsche, taking him to be an enemy of reality, when in fact Nietzsche rejected so mush of the Western tradition because he found in it a nihilist hatred for reality and existence that Voegelin also opposes. Likewise, Voegelin seems to take Christianity as either a sui generis phenomenon or a development out of Greek philosophy, when in fact it is neither. Christianity is the product of an evolution within the boundaries (and thus the experiences) of ancient Judaism. In order to understand Christianity as itself, it must be taken for the organic outgrowth from that background that it was. Voegelin thus persistently misunderstands the essence of Christianity, which he seems to confuse with semi-Platonic Augustinianism. Finally, Voegelin never seeks to analyze the metaphysical truthfulness of the existential experiences that he finds undergirding political life. He just takes it for granted that the quasi-Platonic cosmology that he adheres to is the true order of reality. This leaves him open to metaphysical criticism.

Nonetheless, this is a brilliant introduction to Voegelin's work and to the demented nature of modern ideology and it's roots in spiritual revolt.

Learned
Eric Voegelin was one of the most learned scholars of the 20th century.This work, which goes beyond what might be considered a "science of politics," is a fairly complete exposition of some of the central themes of philosophy, particularly how they relate to politics.Voegelin's thesis is (in part) roughly as follows: Christianity, particularly in its Augustinian version, dedivinzed the universe.In this process, man saw his limited, creaturely role.However, various revolutionary movements arose which sought to redivinize man and society.These movements were largely "gnostic" in orientation.This gnosticism can be seen in the revolutionary philosophies of our time, such as Comteianism, Marxism, and Nazism. "These Gnostic experiences . . . are the core of the redivinization of society, for the men who fall into these experiences divinize themselves by substituting more massive modes of participation in divinity for faith in the Christian sense."[p. 124.] One gnostic phenomenon Voegelin calls "immanitizing the eschaton" in which revolutionaries attempt to create utopia on earth.They often follow a version of Joachim's "three ages" scheme: for example, Comte's approach to history (theological, metaphysical, and scientific phases); the Marxian three stages of society (primitive, class-based, and communistic); and Nazism with its "Third Reich." [pps. 112-13.]

Voegelin's learning is nothing short of astounding.He is at ease discussing topics as diverse as ancient philosophy, the inscriptions of King Darius I, the Mongol Orders of Submission, and various Puritan literature.

There are a couple problems with this work.First, Voegelin has a rather freewheeling use of the term "gnosticism" which he seems to apply to just about everything he doesn't like.For example, the Protestant Reformation was "the successful invasion of Western institutions by Gnostic movements." [p. 134.] While gnosticism may be an appropriate way to describe various movements that sprung up at the time of the Reformation, this is an unfair characterization of Protestantism as a whole. [See Murray Rothbard's essay "Karl Marx as Religious Eschatologist" in The Logic of Action II.]In fact, Voegelin goes so far as to call Calvin's Institutes a "Gnostic Koran"![p. 139.]He also sees gnostic elements in Paul and Isaiah, among others.Second, it's kind of hard to determine exactly what Voegelin's own views are.Although he has been praised by many Christian writers, he apparently wasn't a Christian in the traditional sense.He called himself a "mystic." [Michael Franz, Eric Voegelin and the Politics of Spiritual Revolt, p. 70 n. 11.]In fact, David Gordon, echoing R.J. Rushdoony, recently stated that Voegelin was himself a gnostic! [David Gordon, Mises Review, Fall 2000.]

Classical Politics in age of Enlightenment Tyranny
Eric Voegelin New Science of Politics is a masterpiece of classicalpolitical theory.His analysis rested upon the idea that the modernpolitical theorist have distorted the classical tradition in order tocreate a new manufactured political Enlightenment theory.The breakdown ofphilosophy into a series of political ideologies has created the moderntragedy ofbizarre collection of distorted views of human nature. Essentially, Voegelin used the title New Science of Politics to rediscoverthe essential foundations of politics based on a theory of humanrationalism.The current political theorist tend to view the politicalnature of representation based on a deformed psychological conception ofmodern man, i.e. Shelley's Frankenstein.The book gives new insights andsources to the essential characteristics of the good society.The bookintegrates the classical political theories of Socrates, Plato andAristotle to create aphilosophical context to analyze the intellectual"second reality" of the modern period.Theidea of another"Heaven's Gate" in the post-modern era is contained within thepolitical dialogue of modern nihilism. ... Read more

Product Description
Although some critics of Eric Voegelin s later work have faulted his failure to deal with the historical Jesus and to address the implications of Christianity for social and political life, the recent publication of Voegelin s History of Political Ideas has allowed a more complete assessment of his position regarding the Christian political order. This book addresses that criticism through an analysis of Voegelin s early work. Focusing on the tension between a spiritual phenomenon based on Pauline faith and the institutionalization of that experience in the church, Jeffrey C. Herndon offers one of the first examinations of the relationship of the History of Political Ideas to Voegelin s larger body of work. ... Read more

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Plato as a Referent for Life
Oxford Don, Raghavan Iyer noted that the world is a fortunate place when there are two people alive -- at the same time -- who understand Plato.Eric Voegelin was clearly one of those people in the twentieth century.This material was originally published in Volume 3 of Order and History, the core of the magnus opus that Voegelin chose to publish during his life time.

I met Eric Voegelin once as a graduate student, and asked him, "why'd you publish all this stuff?"I've been digesting his answer ever since. It was "to resist totality and totalitarianism."

Particularly, seen from this standpoint, a clear core of this book is his articulation of the Platonic concept of "metaxy," or the in-between character of life.In philosophical terms, this refers most directly and fully to "in-between" the Agathon (e.g., see myth of the cave and the Divided Line in the Republic) and the apeiron (explored most directly and deeply in the Timaeus). For the philosophically uninitiated, it is possible to speak of this in more mundane terms.

An unstated corollary of Plato's notion of the "metaxy" is that life is always larger than our categories.From a Socratic/Platonic perspective, this may include but will entail more than the epistemological recognition that every way of seeing is a way of not seeing.The notion of the "metaxy" is most fundamentally a linguistic indice pointing to ontological plenty as the ground of life, albeit lived within bounds of existential scarcity.This is a notion commonly shared by the great civilizations of East and West.The notion of the "metaxy" underscores that life is lived within a tension between the "transcendent" and "immanent" dimensions of being.

When we lose track of this tension, as we have to a great extent in the modern world, and subscribe to reductive ideological notions/understandings of life -- and most particularly, when we imagine that we can encapsulate life within the pride of our own "enlightened" categories -- on a political plane, there may be little to constrain the prideful actions of ideologies, irrespective of whether their clothing is Red or Black, or whether it is "left" or "right." Irrespective of the political stripe, repression and murder become "justified" in the pursuit of an ideological aim -- which in Voegelin's philosophical terms is to dissolve the "metaxy" in the usual modernist mode, through immanetizing the transcendent "eschaton."

Voegelin's philosophical terms may sound remarkably abstract to the modern ear (recall Robert Dahl's silly review of Voegelin's The New Science of Politics for the American Political Science journal).Facile critiques such as Dahl's typically focus on the unfamiliar language while overlooking the elementary fact that what Voegelin is asking us to do in every aspect of his work is to take a journey that precisely allows us to see the world in terms other than that of our inherited climate of opinion.For those willing to be thorough scholars rather than merely play at it within the context of given suppositions, Voegelin's scholarship offers new vistas and incredibly rich fields of study.His scholarship offers the capacity to reflect upon and act in the world in a substantively grounded mode with implications for every discipline (see e.g., A.G. Ramos' New Science of Organizations).

I submit that a key to understanding this text and the greater body of his work at large is to grasp the central significance of the "metaxy" -- not as a concept within the history of ideas -- but as a life referent of perennial relevance to the recurring challenge of resisting sophistic pretensions and the inherited or emergent ideologies of any time and place.

This text demands a good deal.You'll develop insights into Plato available no where else.But for Voegelin, such studies were never a matter of antiquarian interest.They were a matter of developing meaningful referents for life.The value in this text is precisely in its yield, capable of resonating throughout your life and offering far more than the initial effort it will require of you. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent synthesis of Voegelin's political philosophy
Years ago a good friend of mine, who knew Voegelin personally, recommended that I read him.It was not until recently that I delved into his works, motivated mostly by the increase in fundamentalism and falsified consciousness in U.S. society (and elsewhere).Voegelin's own works are daunting in their sheer volume, but I have found Franz's little book a superb accounting of the most essential parts of Voegelin's thought, at least of the parts that are of most interest to me.Franz writes clearly and captures well the depth and expanse of Voegelin's panoramic mindset.
If I can register one minor complaint: though Marxism as a closed ideology has its problems, I would disagree with Franz's judgment (in a footnote on p. 116) that "the ideology has NEVER had much going for it in terms of empirical support or theoretical cogency."Despite the weakness of its philosophical underpinnings, I believe that as an analytical tool for understanding what's happening in today's economy, Marxism still has much worth.And that is precisely its appeal, not some hankering after an illusory communistic paradise.
But this is a minor complaint.Franz makes Voegelin highly accessible to people who will never be able to navigate the ocean of his collected works, and I recommend his book highly to anyone who wants to understand not only Voegelin but the radical nature of the crisis of our small-minded society. ... Read more