Metodo

International Studies in Phenomenology and Philosophy

Journal | Volume | Article

137538

German(e) encounters with global crisis

Deconstructing society and reconstructing spirituality

Rebecca Dew

pp. 131-149

Abstract

German philosophers and political thinkers of the last century – Jaspers, Arendt and Strauss prominent among them – express shared frustration with the modern situation and candid assessments of its dangers. Jaspers reflects on the atomic age and the modern dissolution of values; Arendt criticizes the bureaucratic machinery of modern society as anti-political; and Strauss expresses distrust of modern logics of science and history as tending towards historical forgetfulness. In this paper, I examine the formative effects of these tendencies in relation to emotional and epistemic considerations of identity and the social and cultural relations which frame them. I argue that, in their audacity to engage with modern crisis in global terms, Jaspers, Arendt and Strauss provide thoughtful perspectives on a thoughtless age, perspectives not only German but germane.

Publication details

Published in:

Tava Francesco, Caminada Emanuele (2016) Facing global crisis after Europe. Metodo 4 (1).

Pages: 131-149

DOI: 10.19079/metodo.4.1.131

Full citation:

Dew Rebecca (2016) „German(e) encounters with global crisis: Deconstructing society and reconstructing spirituality“. Metodo 4 (1), 131–149.