This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. SPELLS OF OUR INHABITING: TRANSITIONING FROM THE SPECTRE OF GNOSTIC ESTRANGEMENT TO A PHILOSOPHY OF ENTANGLED OVERFLOWING Clara SOUDAN PhD in Philosophy The University of Edinburgh 2019 This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the au- thor, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. SIGNED DECLARATION I declare that this thesis presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy has been composed solely by myself and that it has not been submitted, in whole or in part, in any previous application for a degree. Except where stated otherwise by reference or acknowledgment, the work presented is entirely my own. ABSTRACT This doctoral thesis explores the cardinal importance of cosmological and the- ological narratives in our engagement with the contemporary ecological transition. Drawing upon the analyses of political philosophers Hans Jonas and Eric Voegelin, I argue that the category of Gnosticism provides a fruitful angle from which to approach the present environmental issue as well as the challenge of an ecological inhabiting of the earth. Originally referring to a variety of religious systems which bloomed in early Christianity, the concept of Gnosticism gravitates around the cardinal theme of a cul- tural estrangement from the world. While Hans Jonas’ study of Gnosticism elucidates the nihilistic dimension of the structural dualism pervading modern cosmology by re- lating the latter to a deep-ingrained tendency to escape from the world – which his environmental ethics of responsibility famously attempted to remedy –, Eric Voegelin focuses on the political manifestations of this spiritual inclination. Voegelin’s insights and his developments around the platonic concept of metaxy contribute to unravel what modern gnostic movements struggle to contain: the irreducible in-betweenness of be- ing in the world. This enduring and ubiquitous in-betweenness of worldly processes, I submit, is what simultaneously moves and resists the dualistic structure of modern cosmology: it also lies at the core of what is being unveiled along the ecological mu- tation, what remains unthought and yet must be thought. The perspective of Gnosti- cism thus enables both Jonas and Voegelin to reach a greater analytical depth as well as a critical distance from within the system of thought they intend to approach. Fo- cusing on the notion of inhabiting, the “hermeneutics of Gnosticism” developed in this research aims to further illuminate some of the cosmological tropes framing our un- derstanding of and involvement in the present ecological mutation. It uncovers for in- stance such pervasive ideas as that of an abyssal alienation from the world, a perpetual yearning to overcome the conditions of our inhabiting, or a radical dualism between God and the world as compelling cultural spells cast upon our inhabiting of the world. As I draw attention to some of these spells and how they bewitch the way we inhabit the world, I hope for the tropes of our inhabiting to be reclaimed on the path to a resilient and peaceful inhabiting of the earth. My analysis of the spectre of Gnosticism in our cosmologies brings into relief the relevance of alternate ways of dwelling and of engaging with the present ecological transition. These are mobilized by alternate narratives which, from process philosophy to ecofeminist thought through the poetics of créolité, recount a hopeful entanglement with the world, the resilient openness of our inhabiting, and a joyful, vernacular overflowing of our Gaian becomings. LAY SUMMARY Why and how are stories crucial in order to properly engage with the present challenge of an ecological transition? What is the legitimacy of a philosophical inquiry in this issue yet so worldly, traditionally ranging from earth sciences to political ecol- ogy? To what extent do the narratives we both inherit and perpetuate condition the way we inhabit this world? Such are the interrogations which prompted this doctoral research. The present work arises from the intuition that our relationship to the earth and involvement within the ongoing ecological collapse have everything to do with the constellation of myths, tropes, paradigms, ideas and discourses which weave our conceptual landscape. With the ecofeminist author Starhawk, I propose to approach this constellation of narratives as “cultural spells”. As I confront some of these spells and uncover some of the ways they bewitch us, I unfold the cardinal thought according to which our inhabiting of the world – comprising of the many mundane ways in which we work, consume, eat, dress, travel, dwell and relate to other earthlings – ultimately relies upon powerful and contingent stories. Stories which we must reflect upon if we wish to transition toward a more sustainable model of inhabiting. Drawing upon the work of two political philosophers of Modernity, Hans Jonas and Eric Voegelin, I identify in the mythology of Gnosticism a key to approach contemporary inhabiting. The term Gnosticism refers to an obscure syncretism of spiritual movements blooming in early Christianity and converging towards an experience of the world as a hostile place from which humanity is radically estranged. I argue that delving into the cos- mology of Gnosticism illuminates a cultural estrangement from the earth along with the dualistic architecture of thought around which this imaginary of alienation is en- forced. Luckily, the contemporary pathologies of the inhabiting unveiled by the lens of Gnosticism can be addressed, and a resilient relationship with the world reclaimed as we allow ourselves to tell different stories. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Writing this doctoral dissertation has been a journey in entanglements and overflowings. As I reach the end of this research, I feel both deeply indebted to the manifold entanglements that have rooted me this past three years and overflowed with gratitude for what they gave birth to: a peaceful abundance exceeding the academic scope of a doctoral research. Among these entanglements, I must express my gratitude to my dedicated su- pervisor Pauline Phemister and to my inspiring friends Michael Northcott and Bruno Latour. Their unwavering trust and presence combined with the gift of their insurrec- tional thought were invaluable sources of confidence and nurturing in the process of completing this work. I also gratefully acknowledge the funding received by the School of Divinity of the University of Edinburgh. To my devoted parents, my beautiful friends Marion, Dario and Cesco, and to my love Adrien, whose luminous beings made everything so much lighter: thank you! TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 1 CHAPTER 1. HANS JONAS’ ANALYSIS OF GNOSTICISM: SUBVERTING DUALISM TO IN- HABIT THE WORLD ..................................................................................................... 27 A. The primary experience of the alienness of the world ................................. 37 The fall into and the escape from the world ....................................................... 39 The alien and the home ....................................................................................... 42 The abyss, the rift and cosmic anxiety ................................................................ 44 B. Gnosticism as acosmic dualism ....................................................................... 48 The cosmo-ontological unfolding of an existential dualism ............................... 48 A pivotal theological dualism ............................................................................. 50 The eschatological tension contained in temporal dualism................................ 56 C. The Gnostic estrangement from the world as nihilism ................................ 60 Gnosticism as negation of the world: an acosmic nihilism ................................ 61 The relation to transcendence