Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Master's Theses Graduate School 2013 Eric Voegelin’s Quest to Resist Untruth and Restore the Roots of Order Montgomery Carl Erfourth Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses Part of the Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Erfourth, Montgomery Carl, "Eric Voegelin’s Quest to Resist Untruth and Restore the Roots of Order" (2013). LSU Master's Theses. 3074. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses/3074 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Master's Theses by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ERIC VOEGELIN’S QUEST TO RESIST UNTRUTH AND RESTORE THE ROOTS OF ORDER A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts In The Department of Political Science by Montgomery C. Erfourth B.A., University of Florida, 1993 December 2013 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS A document of similar length would be necessary to properly acknowledge all of the kind and generous people who helped this project at various points in its development. This thesis exists in its final form only because of the time, assistance, and compassion devoted by many selfless people. In particular, I must acknowledge Dr. Ellis Sandoz’s guidance and encouragement that inspired this project by introducing me to Eric Voegelin and further piqued my interest through many philosophical conversations on his back porch. I can honestly say that I consider myself lucky to be one of his students. My deepest thanks also goes out to my thesis committee, which included Dr. Ellis Sandoz, Dr. Cecil Eubanks, and Dr. David Sobek. Their patience and insights were exceedingly thoughtful, and their assistance on matters ranging from the highest to the most mundane was invaluable. I must thank the U.S. Army for providing an old officer the time and funding to earn a Masters, and Lieutenant Colonel Aaron Bazin for his help, advice, and encouragement to pursue my academic goals. Additionally, I must thank the faculty, staff, and graduate students of the Department of Political Science at Louisiana State University who have been so insightful, supportive, positive, and inspiring. This includes, but is not limited to, Lezlie Haynes, Dr. Bill Clark, Dr. Johanna Dunaway, Dr. Wonik Kim, Dr. Dustin Howes, Brian Watson, Norman Clark, Trevor Shelley, John Kitch, Stephen Savage, Andrew Harper, Nathan Vosburg, and Carlos Garcia for making us all laugh. Last, but certainly not least, I must acknowledge my wonderful family and friends, particularly my wife Sharmayn, and Mr. and Mrs. Roger E. Erfourth, without whom none of this would have been possible. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................. v INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 1 1 THE FLAME IS LIT 1.1 A Man of His Times and His Quest for Truth ........................................................ 5 1.2 Voegelin’s Definition of Gnosticism .................................................................... 12 1.3 The Symbols and Linguistic Indices of Reality .................................................... 19 1.4 Chapter 1 Summary ............................................................................................. 22 2 THE FLAME BURNS SO VERY BRIGHTLY 2.1 History of Western Truth and Voegelin’s New Science ....................................... 24 2.2 Theory of Consciousness - The Key to Seeing the Way to Truth and Reality ..... 28 2.3 Noetic and Pneumatic Experience – The Tools of Resistance ............................. 34 2.4 Noesis and Political Reality ................................................................................. 39 2.5 Chapter 2 Summary .............................................................................................. 41 3 THE FLAME IS PASSED ON 3.1 Voegelin’s Revolution and Noetic Science Defined ............................................. 43 3.2 History, Revelation, and the Principia Noetica .................................................... 49 3.3 Example of Voegelin’s Noetic Science Applied ................................................... 53 3.4 Chapter 3 Summary ............................................................................................. 63 CONCLUSION C.1 Eric Voegelin’s Contribution to Science and Understanding .............................. 64 C.2 His Critics ............................................................................................................. 64 C.3 Did Voegelin Answer the Question of Political Reality? .................................... 68 C.4 A Few Closing Thoughts on What Eric Voegelin Taught Us ............................. 72 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................. 74 VITA .. .............................................................................................................................. 76 iii ABSTRACT This thesis is an exploration of political reality as understood by Eric Voegelin. Voegelin employed the revolutionary concepts found in ancient Greek noetic and Christian pneumatic philosophy that describe political reality and the means to know it. This thesis begins with a biographical sketch of Voegelin, the historical milieu that inspired his resistance to “unreality” and terms and symbols he uses to identify the spiritual sickness he believes is destroying Western Civilization’s traditional basis of order. It then examines Voegelin’s theories of consciousness, philosophy, and science fundamental to understanding reality. Given the extensive nature and volume of his work, a consolidation and explanation of it is offered, and an example on how to apply it is outlined. Critiques of Voegelin’s work are detailed to outline weaknesses in his theories and methods. This thesis concludes by defining political reality, how to use Voegelinian techniques to analyze reality, and how to live a life that cultivates the pursuit of human knowledge in keeping with Western philosophic traditions. iv ABBREVIATIONS USED IN TEXT A Anamnesis AR Autobiographical Reflections CW Collected Works, Volume 5 – Modernity Without Restraint EA Ecumenic Age FER From Enlightenment to Revolution HG Hitler and the Germans IR Collected Works, Volume 14 - Israel and Revelation ISO In Search of Order MK The Meditative Origin of the Philosophical Knowledge of Order NSP The New Science of Politics OH Collected Works, Volume 1 - Order and History, Israel and Revelation PE Collected Works, Volume 12 - Published Essays, 1966-1985. SPG Science, Politics, and Gnosticism (Book 1984) TL Collected Works, Volume 27 - Theory of Law v INTRODUCTION This is to be a study of political reality and what is required to recognize it. It likely seems absurd to analyze “political reality” given the current state of polarized American politics where the “truth of our situation” is grossly maligned on a daily basis. There is a struggle within society to agree on who we are and what is most important to us, which is played out in the circus of our political representatives bickering and lack of honesty. America does not seem alone in its struggle to agree on what is “real”. There is some agreement among academics and others that throughout the Western world there is a certain level of dissatisfaction within society concerning its representative government’s ability to take on what is “real” (Federici, 2002, 18). While the term “real” can have many interpretations, there is a correlation between “real” and “reality”. The nexus of these ideas is most likely found in the very meaning and basis of “order” for which the government is the representative. Understanding the relationship between order and reality is part of the ancient struggle for society to define human nature and establish a political order that can both honor and impede certain aspects of this nature. A common “politically conservative” belief is that observing political reality is a matter of common sense and that this reality can be recognized within the totality of Western culture’s Christian and Hellenic traditions. This camp would further suggest that the loss of reality is a movement towards “unreality” and this condition is responsible for the unparalleled human destruction of the twentieth century (Federici, 2002, 16). While those more loosely defined as “liberal” believe that reality is an empirical matter best left to science and that our flirtations with destruction are the result of human systems failing to function properly. In either case, many conservatives and liberals alike agree that there is a looming sense of crisis occurring at the very heart of Western culture that is rooted in how we view the human condition (Federici, 2002, 17). The West has been very successful and perhaps the