"It was only toward the middle of the twentieth century that the inhabitants of many European countries came, in general unpleasantly, to the realization that their fate could be influenced directly by intricate and abstruse books of philosophy."
-----Czeslaw Milosz, from "The Captive Mind"
4 comments:
I was reading the intro to Dostoyevsky's book "Demons" last night and the author of the forward was saying Dostoyevsky thought embodied ideas were demons. Not just abstract concepts, but those concepts as embodied by individuals. He talked a lot about the herd of swine and the Geresene demoniac as a metaphor for his age. Thus we get Ivan in the Grand Inquisitor lamenting that he killed his father, and Alyosha saying, "no, it wasn't you."
Take your thought life seriously.
How prevelant (prevalent?) . . . Noam . . . Neibur.
What is Milosz refering to? Hitler's adaption of Hegel? USSR and Marx? US and Smith and Ricardo?
I guess I'm not picking up what he is laying down. What events in mid 20th century made Europeans realize that obsucre philosophy can dictate their fate?
Being Polish I believe he was talking about Hitler's adoption of Nietzsche, and of course, indirectly Hegel. I don't have the book anymore, but I remember him talking about the inversions of modern thought and the replacement of the authoritative image of a human being (Christ) by the would-be autonomous human will.
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