Eric Voegelin’s Autobiographical Lecture

Eric Voegelin is more relevant now than ever, his thesis about humanity’s “gnostic” spirit (spiritual disorder and the need for order) and political revolution which follows from this gnostic disorder, is the best window into the current ailments of society. In his autobiographical lecture, which is nearly 5-hours long, Ellis Sandoz interviews Voegelin who talks about the decadent culture of Europe during his childhood, the rise of Nazism, the threat of Marxism, the precious gift of American democracy and its own emerging crisis of culture (this lecture was recorded in the 1970s), and how to avoid the gnostic temptation within us.

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Eric Voegelin (1901-85) was a German-born American Political Philosopher. He was born in Cologne and educated in Political Science at the University of Vienna, at which he became Associate Professor of Political Science. In 1938 he and his wife fled from the Nazi forces which had entered Vienna and emigrated to the United States, where they became citizens in 1944. He spent most of his academic career at the University of Notre Dame, Louisiana State University, the University of Munich and the Hoover Institution of Stanford University. More information about him can be found under the Eric Voegelin tab on this website.

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