Ludwig Klages and the Philosophy of Life

Ludwig Klages and the Philosophy of Life PDF Author: Paul Bishop
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1315522470
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 448

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Book Description
This book provides a unique overview of and introduction to the work of the German psychologist and philosopher Ludwig Klages (1872-1956), an astonishing figure in the history of German ideas. Central to intellectual life in turn-of-the-century Munich, he went on to establish a reputation for himself as an original and provocative thinker. Nowadays he is often overlooked, partly because of the absence of an accessible and authoritative introduction to his thought; this volume offers just such a point of entry. With an emphasis on applicability and utility, Paul Bishop reinvigorates the discourse surrounding Klages, providing a neutral and compact account of his intellectual development and his impact on psychology and philosophy. Part 1 offers an overview of Klages’s life, visiting the major stations of his intellectual development. Part 2 examines in turn nine major conceptual ‘tools’ found in Klages’s extensive writings, aiming to clarify Klages’s terminology, to demystify his discourse, and to sift through Klages’s credentials as a psychological thinker. Part 3 consists of extracts from Klages’s writings, thematically oriented; these showcase the aphoristic and lyrical, as well as psychological and philosophical, qualities of Klages’s writing, including his interest in aesthetics. Taken together, all three parts constitute a vitalist ‘toolkit’ — to build a fuller, richer life. Drawing on previous studies of Klages that have only been available in German, Ludwig Klages and the Philosophy of Life provides a non-polemical account of Klages’s life and work, with explanations and commentaries to guide the reader through extracts from his writings. The book accessibly explains the most important ideas and concepts found in Klages’s work, including soul, spirit, character, expression, will, and consciousness, and it reveals Klages to be a serious figure whose thought remains relevant to many disciplines today. It will stimulate interest in his work and create a new readership for his remarkable worldview.

Ludwig Klages and the Philosophy of Life

Ludwig Klages and the Philosophy of Life PDF Author: Paul Bishop
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1315522470
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 448

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book provides a unique overview of and introduction to the work of the German psychologist and philosopher Ludwig Klages (1872-1956), an astonishing figure in the history of German ideas. Central to intellectual life in turn-of-the-century Munich, he went on to establish a reputation for himself as an original and provocative thinker. Nowadays he is often overlooked, partly because of the absence of an accessible and authoritative introduction to his thought; this volume offers just such a point of entry. With an emphasis on applicability and utility, Paul Bishop reinvigorates the discourse surrounding Klages, providing a neutral and compact account of his intellectual development and his impact on psychology and philosophy. Part 1 offers an overview of Klages’s life, visiting the major stations of his intellectual development. Part 2 examines in turn nine major conceptual ‘tools’ found in Klages’s extensive writings, aiming to clarify Klages’s terminology, to demystify his discourse, and to sift through Klages’s credentials as a psychological thinker. Part 3 consists of extracts from Klages’s writings, thematically oriented; these showcase the aphoristic and lyrical, as well as psychological and philosophical, qualities of Klages’s writing, including his interest in aesthetics. Taken together, all three parts constitute a vitalist ‘toolkit’ — to build a fuller, richer life. Drawing on previous studies of Klages that have only been available in German, Ludwig Klages and the Philosophy of Life provides a non-polemical account of Klages’s life and work, with explanations and commentaries to guide the reader through extracts from his writings. The book accessibly explains the most important ideas and concepts found in Klages’s work, including soul, spirit, character, expression, will, and consciousness, and it reveals Klages to be a serious figure whose thought remains relevant to many disciplines today. It will stimulate interest in his work and create a new readership for his remarkable worldview.

The Philosophy of Life and Death

The Philosophy of Life and Death PDF Author: Nitzan Lebovic
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137342064
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 507

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Book Description
Some of the first figures the Nazis conscripted in their rise to power were rhetoricians devoted to popularizing the German vocabulary of Leben (life). This fascinating study reexamines this movement through one of its most prominent exponents, Ludwig Klages, revealing the philosophical-cultural crises and political volatility of the Weimar era.

On Cosmogonic Eros

On Cosmogonic Eros PDF Author: Ludwig Klages
Publisher: Independently Published
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Ludwig Klages' 1922 book, On Cosmogonic Eros (Vom kosmogonischen Eros), delves into the realms of mythology, the esotericism of ancient mystery cults, and the science of consciousness to construct a profound metaphysics of life. At its core, Klages presents Eros as an "Eros of distance," from which springs forth the essence of ecstasy and de-selfing. This intriguing concept suggests that experiencing separation and distance can lead to extraordinary states of transcendent bliss and a dissolution of the self. Furthermore, Klages argues that this ecstatic experience serves as the foundation for the emergence of symbolism, the cult of the dead, ancestor worship, as well as the creation of original poetry and art. Klages' work offers a concise and engaging exploration of these key concepts, intertwining mythology, esoteric knowledge, and the study of consciousness to illuminate the enigmatic nature of life and the transformative power of Eros.

The Biocentric Worldview

The Biocentric Worldview PDF Author: Ludwig Klages
Publisher: Arktos
ISBN: 1907166610
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 158

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Book Description
Citations are included in the Editor's note, pages 24-25.

The Science of Character

The Science of Character PDF Author: Ludwig Klages
Publisher: Arktos Media Limited
ISBN: 9781914208959
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
In his masterful treatise The Science of Character, Ludwig Klages surpasses the traditional study of character by moving away from the assumption of rigid character traits and the old doctrine of the four temperaments. Instead, he describes the traits in their dynamic course. Klages distinguishes between the talents and the character in the narrower sense, and meticulously lays out the individual qualities and the structure of the character. The quantity aspects of the talents are to be determined by comparison between different persons. The driving forces, or interests, decide the general direction of our lives and are to be judged by comparison between the expressions of the different interests of a single individual. Klages is opposed to egalitarianism and continually emphasizes that we are born with different gifts and talents. With our nature being based on our interests, he describes the structure of the character in a phenomenological-psychological way, based on his own experience, through introspection and reflection, but also based on observations of expression, as well as literary and other cultural phenomena. He emphasizes the psychological meaning of words and the richness of psychological knowledge captured in language. Klages is able to analyze not just individuals, but entire races, epochs and even buildings. His work anticipates postmodernism.

Cosmogonic Reflections: Selected Aphorisms from Ludwig Klages

Cosmogonic Reflections: Selected Aphorisms from Ludwig Klages PDF Author: Ludwig Klages
Publisher: Arktos
ISBN: 1910524417
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
This book is a selection of aphorisms and reflections excerpted from the voluminous works of the German philosopher and psychologist, Ludwig Klages. He was a fierce critic of what he saw as the lack of quality in the modern world, which he held to be a product of modern ideas and organised Christianity in our era. For Klages, the world is divided between life-affirming beliefs that venerate nature and those anti-natural forces that promote materialism and rationalism. To overcome these anti-life forces, Klages wished to return European consciousness back to its pagan roots and renew the link between man and sacred nature. He opposed technocratic rationalism, illusions of progress, and democracy, which he believed to be antithetical to true culture. His aphorisms defend paganism and a healthy Eros for a renewed future. “A pagan metaphysical system would not be philosophy as one understands that word today, i.e., the hair-splitting rehashing of such life-alien concepts as would be appropriate to the lecture hall; nor would it be characterized by that sort of factitious profundity that seeks to conceal its utter inability to solve the riddles of thought behind a veil of second-rate poetic fables. Neither should a genuine pagan metaphysics resemble that which passes for science in the modern world… Before we can discover truths that go to the very roots, we must possess a greater fund of inwardness than can be discerned in those thinkers who, for at least the last five hundred years, have expended their energies exclusively within the realm of reason.”—p. 143

Analytic Philosophy

Analytic Philosophy PDF Author: Michael Beaney
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198778023
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 153

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Book Description
Michael Beaney introduces analytic philosophy by exploring some of the key ideas of Gottlob Frege, Bertrand Russell, G. E. Moore, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Susan Stebbing. He also considers how analytic philosophy has developed and spread to become the dominant philosophical tradition across the world.

The Lives of Erich Fromm

The Lives of Erich Fromm PDF Author: Lawrence J. Friedman
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231162596
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 458

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Book Description
Erich Fromm was a political activist, psychologist, psychoanalyst, philosopher, and one of the most important intellectuals of the twentieth century. Known for his theories of personality and political insight, Fromm dissected the sadomasochistic appeal of brutal dictators while also eloquently championing loveÑwhich, he insisted, was nothing if it did not involve joyful contact with others and humanity at large. Admired all over the world, Fromm continues to inspire with his message of universal brotherhood and quest for lasting peace. The first systematic study of FrommÕs influences and achievements, this biography revisits the thinkerÕs most important works, especially Escape from Freedom and The Art of Loving, which conveyed important and complex ideas to millions of readers. The volume recounts FrommÕs political activism as a founder and major funder of Amnesty International, the National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy, and other peace groups. Consulting rare archival materials across the globe, Lawrence J. Friedman reveals FrommÕs support for anti-Stalinist democratic movements in Central and Eastern Europe and his efforts to revitalize American democracy. For the first time, readers learn about FrommÕs direct contact with high officials in the American government on matters of war and peace while accessing a deeper understanding of his conceptual differences with Freud, his rapport with Neo-Freudians like Karen Horney and Harry Stack Sullivan, and his association with innovative artists, public intellectuals, and world leaders. Friedman elucidates FrommÕs key intellectual contributions, especially his innovative concept of Òsocial character,Ó in which social institutions and practices shape the inner psyche, and he clarifies FrommÕs conception of love as an acquired skill. Taking full stock of the thinkerÕs historical and global accomplishments, Friedman portrays a man of immense authenticity and spirituality who made life in the twentieth century more humane than it might have been.

The Myth of Disenchantment

The Myth of Disenchantment PDF Author: Jason Ananda Josephson Storm
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022640336X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 428

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Book Description
A great many theorists have argued that the defining feature of modernity is that people no longer believe in spirits, myths, or magic. Jason Ā. Josephson-Storm argues that as broad cultural history goes, this narrative is wrong, as attempts to suppress magic have failed more often than they have succeeded. Even the human sciences have been more enchanted than is commonly supposed. But that raises the question: How did a magical, spiritualist, mesmerized Europe ever convince itself that it was disenchanted? Josephson-Storm traces the history of the myth of disenchantment in the births of philosophy, anthropology, sociology, folklore, psychoanalysis, and religious studies. Ironically, the myth of mythless modernity formed at the very time that Britain, France, and Germany were in the midst of occult and spiritualist revivals. Indeed, Josephson-Storm argues, these disciplines’ founding figures were not only aware of, but profoundly enmeshed in, the occult milieu; and it was specifically in response to this burgeoning culture of spirits and magic that they produced notions of a disenchanted world. By providing a novel history of the human sciences and their connection to esotericism, The Myth of Disenchantment dispatches with most widely held accounts of modernity and its break from the premodern past.

Can Life Prevail?

Can Life Prevail? PDF Author: Pentti Linkola
Publisher: Arktos Media Limited
ISBN:
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
With the train of civilisation hurtling at ever-increasing speed towards self-destruction, the most pressing question facing humanity in the 21st century is that of the preservation of life. Can Life Prevail?, the latest book by Finnish environmentalist Pentti Linkola, provides a radical yet firmly grounded perspective on the ecological problems threatening both the biosphere and human culture. With essays covering topics as diverse as animal rights, extinction, deforestation, terrorism and overpopulation, Can Life Prevail? for the first time makes the lucid, challenging writing of Linkola available to an English-speaking public. "By decimating its woodlands, Finland has created the grounds for prosperity. We can now thank prosperity for bringing us - among other things - two million cars, millions of glaring, grey-black electronic entertainment boxes, and many unnecessary buildings to cover the green earth. Wealth and surplus money have led to financial gambling and rampant social injustice, whereby 'the common people' end up contributing to the construction of golf courses, classy hotels, and holiday resorts, while fattening Swiss bank accounts. Besides, the people of wealthy countries are the most frustrated, unemployed, unhappy, suicidal, sedentary, worthless and aimless people in history. What a miserable exchange." Kaarlo Pentti Linkola was born in Helsinki in 1932. Having spent most of his life working as a professional fisherman, he now continues to lead a materially simple existence in the countryside. A renowned figure in Finland, since the 1960s Linkola has published numerous books on environmentalism. Today, he is among the foremost exponents of the philosophy of deep ecology.