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Between Gnosis and Anamnesis — European Perspectives on Eric Voegelin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2009

Gilbert Weise
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Extract

In the following, the focus will be on the German reception of the work of Eric Voegelin. Nevertheless snapshots from Austria, Italy, France, Poland and the Czech Republic will be presented

Type
Eric Voegelin and Voegelin Scholarship
Information
The Review of Politics , Volume 62 , Issue 4 , Fall 2000 , pp. 753 - 776
Copyright
Copyright © University of Notre Dame 2000

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References

1 Henkel, Michael, Eric Voegelin zur Einführung (Hamburg: Junius, 1998).Google Scholar

2 See also Marquardd, Odo, “Aufgeklärter Polytheismus—auch eine politische Theologie?” in Der Fürst dieser Welt. Carl Schmitt und die Folgen, ed. Taubes, Jacob (Munich et al: Wilhelm Fink/Ferdinand Schöningh, 1983), pp. 77–84.Google Scholar

3 Voegelin's position, by the way, first entered the German arena in a cut version, as it were, that is through two essays published in periodicals: “Gnostische Politik,” in Merkur (1952) and “Philosophic der Politik in Oxford,” in Philosophische Rundschau (1953/54, translation of “The Oxford Political Philosophers” published in Philosophical Quarterly, April 1953). The New Science of Politics (1952) was translated into German only in 1959. With regard to the extensive correspondences between Voegelin, Löwith and Taubes see Eric Voegelin Papers, Boxes 24.4 and 37.10, Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford, California.

4 Blumenberg, Hans, The Legitimacy of the Modern Age, trans. Wallace, R. M. (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1986).Google Scholar

5 Blumenberg, Hans, Die Legitimität der Neuzeit. Erneuerte Ausgabe (Frankfurt a. M.: Suhrkamp, 1988), p. 138.Google Scholar

6 ibid.

7 Taubes to Voegelin, 6 January 1967, Eric Voegelin Papers, Box 37.10, Hoover Archives.

8 See, for instance, Löwith, Karl, “Besprechung des Buches Die Legitimität der Neuzeit von Hans Blumenberg,” Philosophische Rundschau 15 (1968): 195–201Google Scholar; and Taubes, Jacob, “Der dogmatische Mythos der Gnosis” (1971) in Taubes, J., Vom Kult zur Kultur. Bausteine zu einer Kritik der historischen Vernunft (Munich: Wilhelm Fink, 1996), pp. 99–113.Google Scholar

9 Voegelin, E., Anamnesis. Zur Theorie der Geschichte und Politik (Munich: Piper, 1966).Google Scholar

10 ibid., p. 279.

11 Voegelin, E., On Character and Scepticism, p. 104Google Scholar, Eric Voegelin Papers, Box 56–60 (History of Political Ideas), Hoover Archives.

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14 ibid., p. 97.

15 Faber, Richard, Der Prometheus-Komplex. Zur Kritik der Polit-Theorie Eric Voegelins und Hans Blumenbergs (Würzburg: Königshausen und Neumann, 1984), p. 56.Google Scholar

16 ibid., p. 67.

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19 ibid

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27 This situation will change now that, under the direction of Prof. Opitz, the translation and editing processes of Order and History have been started. The first volume will come out in 2001.

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31 See Herz, Dietmar, “Der Begriff der, Politischen Religionen' im Denken Eric Voegelins”, in Maiei, ‘Totalitarismus’, pp. 191–209.Google Scholar

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35 ibid.

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37 Brumlik, , Gläubige Hingabe, p. 51.Google Scholar

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43 See Gebhardt, Jürgen, “Politische Ideengeschichte als Theorie der politischen Evokation,”, in Politikwissenschaftliche Spiegelungen. Ideendiskurs— Institutionelle Fragen—Politische Kultur und Sprache, ed. Berg-Schlosser, Dirk, Richter, Gisela and Waschkuhn, Arno (Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1998), pp. 15–33.Google Scholar

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45 See, for example, Kraus, Hans-Christof, “Auf der Suche nach der verlorenen Ordnung. Theologische Spekulation als politische Philosophie bei Eric Voegelin” Criticon: Conservative Zeitschrift 120 (1990): 177–81.Google Scholar

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50 See Voegelin, E., The Authoritarian State: An Essay on the Problem of the Austrian State, trans. Hein, Ruth, ed. and intro. Gilbert Weiss; historical commentary on the period by Erika Weinzierl, vol 4, Collected Works (Columbia and London: University of Missouri Press, 1999).Google Scholar

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52 ibid.

53 See Voegelin, , TheAuthoritarian State, p. 57f.Google Scholar

54 Voegelin, E., Der autoritäre Staat. Ein Versuch über das österreichische Staatsproblem, ed. and intro. Winkler, Günther (Wien and New York: Springer, 1997).Google Scholar

55 Voegelin, E., La nuova scienza politico, trans. Pavetto, R. (Torino: Borla, 1968).Google Scholar

56 See, for instance, Gian Lami, F., Introduzione a Eric Voegelin. Dal mito teocosmogonico al sensorio della trascendenza: la ragione degli antiqui e la ragione dei moderni (Milano: Giuffré, 1993)Google Scholar; Mistrorigo, Luigi, Eric Voegelin. Decadenza e ordine politico: la politica prima del potere (Roma: Città Nuova, 1994)Google Scholar; Chignola, Sandro, Pratica del limite. Saggio sulla filosofia politica di Eric Voegelin (Padova: Unipress, 1998)Google Scholar

57 For detailled bibliographical references of all these publications see the Bibliography (“Fonti”) in Chignola, Pratica del limite.

58 ibid., Appendix 3.

59 S. Chignola, Fetishism with the Norm and Symbols of Politics, Occasional Papers 10, Eric-Voegelin-Archiv, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich (1999).

60 This letter is from 16 October 1958; see Eric Voegelin Papers, Box 34.11, Hoover Institution Archives.

61 Schütz to Voegelin, 16 October 1958.

62 Voegelin to Schütz, 20 October 1958.

63 Waldenfels, Bernhard, Phänomenologie in Frankreich (Frankfurt a. M.: Suhrkamp, 1987), p. 39.Google Scholar

64 Aron, Raymond, “Remarques sur la Gnose Leniniste” in The Philosophy of Order: Essays on Consciousness, History and Politics, ed. Opitz, P. J. and Sebba, G. (Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1981), pp. 263–74.Google Scholar

65 Taubes to Voegelin, November 1952, see Eric Voegelin Papers, Box 37.10, Hoover Institution Archives.

66 Voegelin, E., “Gnostische Politik,” Merkur. Deutsche Zeitschrift für europäisches Denken 4 (1952): 301–17.Google Scholar

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70 Voegelin, E., Les religions politiques, traduction et préface par Jacob Schmutz (Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1994).Google Scholar

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73 Besançon, Alain,Le Malheur du siècle. Sur le communisme, le nazisme et I'unicité de la Shoah (Paris: Fayard, 1998)Google Scholar. I am grateful to Jacob Schmutz for this information.

74 Uminska-Ziesche, Monika, Eric Voegelin's Reception in Poland, manuscript for the Second International Conference on the work of Eric Voegelin, University of Manchester 1997Google Scholar. See also by the same author, “Slowo od Tlumaza,” in Voegelin, Eric, Lud Bozy, trans. Uminska, Monika (Krakow: Wydawnictwa Znak, 1994; translation of The people of God), pp. 5–19.Google Scholar

75 Legutko, Ryszard, Etyka absolutna I spoleczenstwo otwarte (Absolute ethics and open society) (Krakow, 1994)Google Scholar, quoted from Uminska-Ziesche, , Voegelin's Reception, p. 3.Google Scholar

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77 Uminska-Ziesche, , Voegelin's Reception, p. 12.Google Scholar

78 Voegelin, E., Nowa nauka polityki, trans, with Foreword Pawel Spiewak (Warszawa: Bibliotheka Aletheia, 1992)Google Scholar; for The People of God see footnote 74.

79 See Tischner, JÓzef, Das menschliche Drama. Phänomenologische Studien zur Philosophie des Dramas (Munich: Wilhelm Fink, 1989)Google Scholar; this text had not been published in Polish before.

80 ibid., p. 29.

81 ibid., p. 35.

82 See, for instance, Voegelin, E., “Der meditative Ursprung philosophischen Ordnungswissens” Zeitschrift für Politik 2 (1981): 130–37.Google Scholar

83 Patočka, Jan, “Co je existence?” (What is existence?) Filosofický časopis 17 (1969): 682–702Google Scholar; see also Srubar, Ilja, “Vom begründeten Leben. Zu Jan Patoèkas praktischer Philosophie”, Phänomenologische Forschungen 17 (1985): 10–31.Google Scholar

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87 Patočka, J., Platon et I'Europe, trans. Abrams, Erika (Lagrasse: Èditions Verdier, 1983, French translation of unpublished manuscript from 1973).Google Scholar

88 Paloš, Martin, “Post-Totalitarian Politics and European Philosophy”, Public Affairs Quarterly 7/2 (1993): 149–64Google Scholar; and by the same author, “European Politics in the End of the Twentieth Century as a Philosophical Problem (Variations on them themes of Jan Patočka, Eric Voegelin and Hannah Arendt)” (Paper delivered at the American Political Science Association Convention, San Francisco 1996).