Table Of Content

The Politics of the Soul This book takes the form of intellectual histories of eight major representative fgures of the twentieth century, who inherited and responded to the spiritual problematic left by Nietzsche. With each fgure offering very dif- ferent ethical and spiritual positions, all shed light on what we mean when we talk confusedly around the topics of politics and religion. With portraits of Max Weber, Georg Lukács, T.S. Eliot, W.H. Auden, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, George Orwell and Hannah Arendt, the author explores the “latent” content of their worldview—the moral (or immoral) intention of their intellectual project. In each of the case studies, the aim is to move toward an understanding of their ultimate values, to get at their particular picture of the soul, as well as the implications of this vision for religion and politics. As such, The Politics of the Soul will appeal to scholars of sociology and social theory, religion, philosophy, political theory and cultural studies. John Dickson is an adjunct research fellow at La Trobe University, A ustralia. He undertook postgraduate studies at Yale University and completed his PhD at La Trobe under the supervision of Professor John Carroll in 2014. It was titled “Strange Gods: The Crisis of Meaning After Nietzsche.” He has since written several articles, including chapters in The Anthem Compan- ion to Philip Rieff (2017) and Metaphysical Sociology: On the Work of John C arroll (2019). This is his frst book. Morality, Society and Culture Series Editors John Carroll is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at La Trobe University; and Fellow of the Center for Cultural Sociology at Yale University. Peter Murphy is Adjunct Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences at La Trobe University and Adjunct Professor in the Cairns Institute at James Cook University. The Morality, Society and Culture series publishes rigorous scholarly work exploring how moral questioning and action have been transformed in contemporary social relationships and by contemporary culture. Can cultural texts such as flms, television broadcasts and art be vehicles for moral demands? Do we learn what it means to be ‘good’ from soap opera and advertising? If cultural texts are forms of moral mimesis, then are the stand- ards of the ‘right’ and ‘good’ dependent on external considerations of cultural visibility and social relevance – and if so, how are some moral issues made visible or invisible, relevant or irrelevant? Now that morality has become cultural and is amenable to sociological and cultural study as well as philosophical investigation, this series explores how and to what effect moral questioning, action and debate are inextrica- bly entwined with contemporary social and cultural forms, texts and insti- tutions. The books in this series offer new understandings of the connection of morality, society and culture, analyse key contemporary events, and establish new methodologies. Titles in this series History of the Present The Contemporary and its Culture David Roberts Kant Anthropology, Imagination, Freedom John Rundell The Politics of the Soul From Nietzsche to Arendt John Dickson For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge. com/Morality-Society-and-Culture/book-series/ASHSER1429 The Politics of the Soul From Nietzsche to Arendt John Dickson First published 2023 by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2023 John Dickson The right of John Dickson to be identifed as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifcation and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: 978-1-032-33013-6 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-032-33015-0 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-31775-3 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003317753 Typeset in Times New Roman by codeMantra For my parents Contents Key Works ix Introduction: The Politics of the Soul? 1 PART I Apocalypse 13 1 The Nietzsche Problem: Dangerous Knowledge 15 2 The Last Good Liberal: Max Weber’s Pessimistic Realism 29 3 The Grand Hotel Abyss: Georg Lukács and the Leap of Faith 38 4 The Reactionary: T.S. Eliot and the Escape from The Waste Land 66 5 The Last Just Cause: The Auden Generation and the Spanish Civil War 83 PART II The Psychoanalytic Movement 105 6 The Destroyer of Illusions: Sigmund Freud 107 7 Strange Gods: C.G. Jung and the Mystic Circus 123 viii Contents PART III The Humanist Reconstruction 141 8 The Need for Roots: George Orwell and Hannah Arendt 143 Concluding Remarks: Thinking What We Are Doing 163 References 175 Acknowledgements 185 Index 187 Key Works Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness (1899) Friedrich Nietzsche: The Birth of Tragedy (1872) Max Weber: The Vocation Lectures (1919) Georg Lukács: Soul and Form (1910) Thomas Mann: Tonio Kröger (1903) T.S. Eliot: The Waste Land (1921) W.H. Auden: Spain (1937) Sigmund Freud: Civilization and its Discontents (1930) C.G. Jung: Memories, Dreams, Refections (1959) George Orwell: Essays (1936–1949) Hannah Arendt: Origins of Totalitarianism (1950)