The Philosophy Of Disenchantment

"This book discusses the philosophy of disenchantment. In it, the author addresses various philosophical topics such as the genesis of disenchantment, the high priest of pessimism, the Sphinx's riddle, the borderlands of happiness, the great quietus, and questions if life is an affliction." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

"The Philosophy of Disenchantment" from Edgar Saltus. American writer (1855-1921).

Explores some of the most urgent problems confronting contemporary European thought: the status of the subject after postmodernism, the ethical dimensions of critical theory, the encounter between psychoanalysis and philosophy, and the possibilities of non-foundational metaphysical thought.

A great many theorists have argued that the defining feature of modernity is that people no longer believe in spirits, myths, or magic. Jason Ā. Josephson-Storm argues that as broad cultural history goes, this narrative is wrong, as attempts to suppress magic have failed more often than they have succeeded. Even the human sciences have been more enchanted than is commonly supposed. But that raises the question: How did a magical, spiritualist, mesmerized Europe ever convince itself that it was disenchanted? Josephson-Storm traces the history of the myth of disenchantment in the births of philosophy, anthropology, sociology, folklore, psychoanalysis, and religious studies. Ironically, the myth of mythless modernity formed at the very time that Britain, France, and Germany were in the midst of occult and spiritualist revivals. Indeed, Josephson-Storm argues, these disciplines’ founding figures were not only aware of, but profoundly enmeshed in, the occult milieu; and it was specifically in response to this burgeoning culture of spirits and magic that they produced notions of a disenchanted world. By providing a novel history of the human sciences and their connection to esotericism, The Myth of Disenchantment dispatches with most widely held accounts of modernity and its break from the premodern past.

From an advertisement in The Book Buyer: A Monthly Review of American and Foreign Literature, Volume 6: HOWEVER we may disagree with that view of life which pronounces it an affliction, a tragedy in the language of a farce, no one can deny the force of Saltus' writing and the dark certainty of his deductions. From the first man to the present hour, life has presented a problem which neither hope, philosophy nor religion has been able to answer. Sage and poet nave pronounced it a vanity and a sham, a dark shifting curtain painted with fantastic shapes, a lane of light with night on either hand. In the Philosophy of Disenchantment, Saltus has given voice to that dumb cry and question which has always and must forever rise in every human heart— "I suffer, and is this all?" ...and a review: "MR. SALTUS is a scientific pessimist, as witty, as bitter, as satirical, as interesting and as insolent to humanity in general as are his great teachers, Scho-penhauer and Von Hartmann." —Worcester Spy.

Fifty years after his death, Walter Benjamin remains one of the great cultural critics of this century. Despite his renown, however, Benjamin's philosophical ideas remain elusive--often considered a disaggregated set of thoughts not meant to cohere. This book provides a more systematic perspective on Benjamin, laying claim to his status as a philosopher and situating his work in the context of its time. Exploring Benjamin's theory of language, spoken and nonspoken, Rainer Rochlitz shows how Benjamin reconceptualized traditional ideas of language, art, and history. Offering an expansive assessment of a unique twentieth-century thinker, this volume provides an indispensable guide for readers of Benjamin's recently released collected works.

This book contains both major philosophical books authored by master of prose and philosopher of pessimism - Edgar Saltus. A talented writer, Saltus tackles topics of philosophy which might otherwise be dry or tedious with sparkling wit. Clarity is given to subjects which would normally turn off readers from approaching, and it is with an entertaining passion that Saltus tackles a variety of topics concerning pessimism, religion and human life. The Philosophy of Disenchantment is a retrospective examination of pessimism, with particular emphasis on philosophers such as Arthur Schopenhauer and Eduard Von Hartmann. By contrast, The Anatomy of Negation looks at writers and philosophers who present antitheism (a belief in no deity) as a tenet of their writings. Of principle concern here is the French author Leconte de Lisle and the ancient Hindu sage Kapila. Although a somewhat obscure philosopher in the modern day, Saltus remains one of the best introductions to moral pessimism and philosophy.