The Political Ideas of Eric Voegelin - Essay Example

The Political Ideas of Eric Voegelin Introduction Modern political theory is characterized by the fact that many politicians emphasize the necessity of modern democracy existence. In order to define the main idea of modern political theory, it’s necessary to trace the biography of political philosopher. Thus, the given paper will analyze and make assessment of the political ideas of Eric Voegelin, who published a great number of works, which contain his political ideas and statements. Voegelin’s biography and political ideas In order to grasp the main idea of Voegelin’s political theory, it’s necessary to trace his biography and historical context of the years of his life. Naturally, his main theoretical background was influenced by his departure from Europe and arrival in the USA. Voegelin was born on January 3, 1901, at Cologne, his father was German, and his mother Viennese. Since 1928, when he was 27 years old, he was a teacher of political theory and sociology at the University of Vienna. The year 1933 was marked by his publishing of two books attacking Nazi racism, and he had to leave Austria after the Anschluss in 1938. Finally, his arrival in the USA opened perspectives for him as a scholar to give lectures on political theory and social science at different universities (Cooper, p. 1). Voegelin was confronted by difficulties during dangerous political situation in March 1938, after Vienna occupation by the German army. Voegelin had made a research of Bolshevik revolution underpinnings (the writings of Marx) and in the 30s he was interested in the phenomena of Fascism and National Socialism. He devoted to the discussion of these phenomena two of his books: Rasse und Staat and Die Rassenidee in der Geistesgeschichte von Ray bis Carus (1933). He considered that through the “race-idea” it was possible to manipulate political community. He came to this conclusion after proper examination of ethnological and biological issues of Race and State. Voegelin underlined in his book Die Rassenidee that human existence is beyond human ‘shell’ and ‘inner contents’, i.e. it’s beyond body and soul (Chaves). Thus in Nazi race idea he traced the turned around millenarianism, which presented Germans as the salvatory representatives of the “Nordic Idea” and the Jews as the diabolic bearers of the “anti-idea” (Cooper, p. 2). Therefore it is possible to reach perfection through mass ethnic purges. Voegelin’s ideas continued developing and in 1936 he published a book on the Austrian regime, Der autoritäre Staat: Ein Versuch über das österreichische Staatsproblem (Cooper, p. 2). This work certainly reflected historical background of that period: perilous period of the social and political unrest of 1934 and the birth of the corporate constitution. The major problem in Austria Voegelin considered in an impossibility of having a political society ready for historical action. European political disorder caused tension on the legal constitution. This political confrontation resulted in the “authoritarian state”. Voegelin tried to analyze notions “authoritarian” and “totality” in a likewise manner, which he used in his explanation of “race-idea”. The abovementioned phenomena from the book (1936) reflected in his masterpiece: The New Science of Politics (Cooper, p. 4). Voegelin appealed to Kelsen’s pure theory of law as to a theoretical basis of the legitimate power of government. He considered the first and foremost aim of government power as maintaining the body politic under possible terms of constant changes, evoked by the ‘idea’, which can lead to creation of law. Legitimate government should correspond to the political reality. Thus if to project Voegelin’s ideas on a new regime in Austria, possibility of long existence of “authoritarian state” will depend on the ability of the regime of protecting nation from external threats an development of an authentic body politic. Voegelin’s book, Die politischen Religionen, was published right before war, in 1938 in Vienna and provoked indignation of the Gestapo. Voegelin presented an evil as a powerful, effective diabolic force in the world. Moral principles can’t properly explain and discuss this phenomenon; therefore Voegelin suggested appealing to basic religious questions (Cooper, p. 15). Political thinker supposed that Nazis and the Bolsheviks have common religious attitudes. He identified Nazis as a diabolic force, which made Gestapo confiscate his book. Nazis made his life unbearable, his talent couldn’t manifest itself and in May Voegelin became bankrupt. He intended to get out of exile and to find new perspectives and open new horizons in USA. Finally, Voegelin had become a fellow of a grant of $2, 000.00 for one year to study in the International Aspects of Political Religions in USA (Cooper, p. 23). Though Voegelin realized difficulty and danger of immigration, he started up for a new life in America. At first, Gestapo didn’t let him out of Austria. Nevertheless thanks to his talent and scientific achievements, he provided himself with secure entry to the USA. Voegelin took an offer from American universities and taught American and comparative government, constitutional law, and public administration (Cooper, p. 38). The Scholar expressed innovative and brave ideas on the necessity of democratic resistance to totalitarian movements. He tended to claim that totalitarianism is nothing else but a “political religion.” Voegelin made an emphasis on the fact that contemporary political movements should be of primary concern as stages phases in the process of the Christian unity destruction of the Western world. Furthermore he underlined that the National Socialists and the Communists with their blocking majority forbade any democratic actions. ‘Voegelin's [work] stands out in bold relief from much of what has passed under the name of political science in recent decades’(Dante Germino, foreword). Voegelin emphasized on the necessity of modern democracy existence due to the fact that putting individuals high on the agenda, allows them to deal with both personal problems and voice their ideas and aspirations and fight for them through a desirable policy. These principles can be traced during the founding of the American republic. If to generalize the main ideas of Voegelin, connected with democracy, he claimed the existence of three “ideological groupings” rooted from the pre-Hitler period: the Marxists, the democrats, and the Christians. The scholar had doubts on equal attitude to individual by American democrats and democrats in the Reich. He had only a hope to just attitude to individuals among Christians. Naturally, Voegelin’s ideas were sought for different political and military goals. First, Austrians living in exile appealed to him. They suggested him to work an Austrian cabinet-in-exile (Toronto) with a former minister Rott from the Schuschnigg cabinet. Nevertheless, Voegelin didn’t take an offer. Finally on August 18, 1942, Voegelin leaved Alabama, and went to Louisiana State University. In 1958 he went to the University of Munich in order to establish the Institute for Political Science (Cooper, p.38). Assessment of Voegelin’s political ideas Voegelin made an attempt to analyze and find out the roots of different phenomena, such as ‘idea’, ‘race’, ‘totalitarianism’ and others, which make his researches a core of modern political science. Voegelin succeeded and helped modern political science to avoid “neutral” or “empirical” context and to penetrate into depth of ethnic and religious roots of Western civilization. Thus Voegelin’s ideas are valuable due to his representation of modern ideologies, which he presented as those deriving from an ability to supply a religiously poor civilization with a restored sense of significance and purpose. He makes his ideas reach and profound and easy-to-follow thanks to his appeal to human consciousness. Through symbolism and images, Voegelin explains the essence of the Beyond (which was discussed above). “Transcendence of mind” allows the scholar to trace similarities and differences from the philosophy of Hegel to Christianity. Basing on the main concepts of religion, Voegelin tries to get to the depth of human consciousness and project self-subjectivity on political science. "Voegelin . . . is one of the most distinguished interpreters to Americans of the non-liberal streams of European thought. . . . He brings a remarkable breadth of knowledge, and a historical imagination that ranges frequently into brilliant insights and generalizations."( Wilson)  Therefore Voegelin’s statement of individual soul as the basic element of order in society can be perfectly illustrated in modern democracy (Butler). The scholar underlined the importance of self-thoughts and ideas. Moreover he claimed that it’s possible to protect and reach individual goals through an appropriate policy, guaranteed by governmental power. This brave statement can be proved as follows: there is a bilateral interrelation of individual and government. Western man (an individual) can be endowed of such functions as far as he starts to understand meaningfulness of history as the extent to which a people understand the order of being (Butler).Voegelin’s philosophy of consciousness widens people’s ideas about spiritual order. If to penetrate into Voegelin’s ideas deeper, we can say that the most crucial for individuals is to be aware of their history. Thus it will be possible to prognosticate the structure of the order of the modern society. For example, in his book The New Science of Politics Voegelin showed too scientific character of modern political science, abstracted from philosophical and religious background (Goldberg). We can assess suggestion of the scholar as very important and valuable one. He considers world as a little ‘cosmion’, which reflects development of individuals on its background. Another important aspect of political ideas of Voegelin is his appeal to Gnosticism. He considers it to be a belief empowered by doubtless knowledge to transform reality and instill human perfection on earth (Tinder).Voegelin underlines that taking into account a religious element of reality is disdained in modern society. Gnosticism discards this element too. Furthermore Gnosticism lacks ‘the problem of existence’ and restricts ‘the truth of the soul’ (Decaen, p.67). Voegelin claimed that due to the fact that modern man neglected metaphysical reality of transcendence, he will not get as much knowledge as he requires (Day, p. 34). Next to the abovementioned book, in his other works, Voegelin defined Gnosticism as a pure vision of truth without any external influences. In accordance with the scholar, an ability of total abstraction and cognitive perception of reality is Gnosticism (Tinder). A special contribution to modern political theory Voegelin makes while comparing ancient Gnosticism with it. Only after abstraction from generally accepted moral and social norms, it is possible to settle disorder in inner and outer worlds and even discard evil of the world. This ability can be obtained only by so-called elite. This claim can be explained in two ways: first, Voegelin claims that the disorder of the world can be overcome and perceived by a multi-sided knowledge or a Gnostic Speculation (Tinder); the second interpretation is that the scholar wants to create a mechanism of speculation implementation, i.e. there is a possibility to create an idealistic environment for human existence if to appeal to history (Day, p. 36). Another discrepancy with Gnostics can be seen in the rejection by the latter Christian Eschaton (the final event in the divine plan; the end of the world). Gnostics claim that humans can find salvation through esoteric practice. Voegelin claims that perfection of the world and nations can lead to the core transformations with the help of elite, or men-Gods, the chosen that possess a special knowledge on human existence perfection. This idea of Voegelin can be contrasted to a notion of atonement that is reached through the salvational union of humans with the divine. The scholar traces Gnostic in Marxism due to the fact that the perfect society on the earth is possible after capitalism overthrown by the ‘proletariat’. Nazism is seen as ‘gnostic’ by Voegelin because it aspires to reach a perfect world through racial purity. Consequently, his ideas lead us to a clear definition of totalitarianism, which can be reached after alienation of certain individuals from the whole society. Thus it is easy to explain a desire to control over nations. The explanation is in not only in Gnostic’s belief of the superior vision of totalitarian, but also in his lack of agreement with a large body of his society. Consequently, a policy of totalitarianism can hardly bear fruits due to a little concern of a national welfare. Conclusion A special contribution to modern political theory Voegelin made by his comparison of ancient Gnosticism with it. Only after abstraction from generally accepted moral and social norms, it is possible to settle disorder in inner and outer worlds and even discard evil of the world. This ability can be obtained only by so-called elite. The thinker underlined the importance of self-thoughts and ideas, he claimed that it’s possible to protect and reach individual goals through an appropriate policy, guaranteed by governmental power. The Scholar expressed innovative and brave ideas on the necessity of democratic resistance to totalitarian movements. He tended to claim that totalitarianism is nothing else but a “political religion.” Voegelin made an emphasis on the fact that contemporary political movements should be of primary concern as stages phases in the process of the Christian unity destruction of the Western world. Voegelin’s statement of individual soul as the essential element of order in society can be rightly demonstrated in modern democracy (Butler). The scholar emphasized the importance of self-thoughts and ideas. Furthermore, Voegelin stated that it’s possible to defend and reach individual goals through an appropriate policy, guaranteed by governmental power. This statement can be proved because there is a bilateral interrelation of individual and government. Western man can be endowed of such functions as far as he begins to understand the history as the extent to which people realize the order of being (Butler).Voegelin’s philosophy of realization widens people’s comprehension of right spiritual order as the first step in political and social order in the West. Works Cited 1. Butler, Gregory. “Sources of Order in History: Voegelin and His Critics.” Humanitas16. 1. (2003). 2. Cooper, Barry. Eric Voegelin and the Foundations of Modern Political Science. University of Missouri Press, 1999. 3. Day, Jerry. Voegelin, Schelling, and the Philosophy of Historical Existence. University of Missouri Press, 2003. 4. Decaen, Christopher A. “Hughes, Glenn, Stephen A. McKnight, and Geoffrey L. Price, Editors. Politics, Order and History: Essays on the Work of Eric Voegelin.” The Review of Metaphysics, 56 (2002). 5. “Eric Voegelin, RIP”. National Review February 22, 1985: A3. 6. Goldberg, Jonah. “The New-Time Religion: Liberalism and Its Problems”. National Review 2005: A3. 7. Chaves, Kelly K. “Ethnohistory: From Inception to Postmodernism and Beyond.” The Historian 70 (2008). 8. Knauss, Dan. “The Church Body. Avery Cardinal Dulles.” First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life May 2006. 9. Leonard, Timothy. “Speaking Truth and Seeking Justice. Cross Currents.” National Review 23, May 2005: A3. 10. Tinder, Glenn. The Anti-Gnostic. First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life, December 2002. 11. THE NEW SCIENCE OF POLITICS An Introduction (Walgreen Foundation Lectures) Eric Voegelin, New Foreword by Dante Germino  University of Chicago Press, reprint (1990) (first published in 1952) 12. Wilson, Francis G., reviewer, Joseph Story and the American Constitution: A Study in Political and Legal Thought, James McClellan, p. 326 Read More