Losing the Cosmos: Arendt and Voegelin on the Origins of Modernity
Date
2020-08-31
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Abstract
Engaging the work of Hannah Arendt and Eric Voegelin, two foundational twentieth-century political philosophers, I examine the historical origins of the loss of cosmos, interpreted here as the ongoing crisis of modernity characterized by alienation and Gnosticism. Three themes are discussed with reference to Hannah Arendt’s The Human Condition and Eric Voegelin’s The New Science of Politics: i) the reversal of orders; ii) gnostic alienation; and iii) history. Chapter one situates the crisis in the work of Hannah Arendt, who contends that three pre-modern events––the discovery of America, the Reformation, and the invention of the telescope––shaped the modern age, transforming the vita activa, active life. Chapter two examines Voegelin’s account of political existence in history and the gnostic victory of modernity. In this context, I examine the de- and re-divinization of society, Joachitic eschatology, and the concept of an eidos of history. Two conclusions are drawn from these accounts: i) Arendt’s account of doubt and Voegelin’s account of uncertainty form an argument for the metaphysical loss of cosmos; and ii) the divinization of the human being is the fulfilment of the social loss of cosmos.
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Keywords
Modernity, Cosmos, Political Theory, Hannah Arendt, Eric Voegelin
Citation
Ching, H. E. (2020). Losing the Cosmos: Arendt and Voegelin on the Origins of Modernity (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.