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Hans Jonas''Gnosticism and Modern Nihilism', and Ludwig von Bertalanffy

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Franzini Tibaldeo, Roberto [UCL]

‘Gnosticism and Modern Nihilism’ (published in Social Research, 1952) is indeed one of Hans Jonas’ most famous essays, to which its author reserved very deep attention during his philosophical career. As a former pupil of Martin Heidegger and Rudolf Bultmann, Jonas started to deal with religious topics, and specifically with Gnosticism, from the very outset of his philosophical career in the 1920s. After gaining recognition thanks to his remarkable philosophical-existential interpretation of Gnosticism, he returned to the modern age and its philosophical characters. Principally, Jonas discovered that modern philosophy up to Heidegger and Sartre suffered from a peculiar spiritual disease – namely, nihilism – that he had already traced in ancient Gnosticism and that he intended to reject. Therefore, Jonas’ acquaintance with ancient religion and thinking gave him a deep insight into the modern age and provided him with a first glimpse of what was later to become his biological philosophy. However, whoever could imagine that the idea of tracing similarities between Gnosticism and modern thinking came to Jonas at the beginning of 1950 from the famous philosopher and biologist Ludwig von Bertalanffy? In this article, I shall endeavour to demonstrate this thesis by quoting from unpublished documents. However, I shall also try to prove that Jonas did not follow von Bertalanffy’s advice completely. The overall aim is, therefore, both to highlight the origins of an essential turning point in the thinking of Hans Jonas, and, on such a basis, to outline the innovation and originality of his philosophical contribution.

Document type Article de périodique (Journal article) – Article de recherche
Access type Accès interdit
Publication date 2012
Language Anglais
Journal information "Philosophy & Social Criticism : an international, interdisciplinary journal" - Vol. 38, no.3, p. 289-311 (2012)
Peer reviewed yes
Publisher Sage Publications Ltd. ((United Kingdom) London)
issn 0191-4537
e-issn 1461-734X
Publication status Publié
Affiliation UCL - ISP - Institut supérieur de philosophie
Keywords Ludwig von Bertalanffy ; Gnosticism ; Martin Heidegger ; Hans Jonas ; modernity ; nihilism ; ontological dualism
Links
  1. Unpublished documents from Hans Jonas’Nachlassat the University of Konstanz (Germany). The online catalogue may be consulted @:http://www.ub.uni-konstanz.de/cgi-bin/uhlemann
  2. The following numbers indicate theNachlassclassification.
  3. HJ-4-10-8 A handwritten lecture (Referat) delivered by Jonas on 27 January 1928 at Martin Heidegger’sSeminaron the notion of will. The original manuscript of Jonas’ paper is entitled ‘Freiheitsproblem b. Augustin’.
  4. HJ-11-4-32 Letter from Jonas to L. von Bertalanffy (3 December 1949). Under the same classification there is also L. von Bertalanffy’s reply to Jonas (9 December 1949).
  5. HJ-11-4-33 Letter from L. von Bertalanffy to Jonas (6 February 1950). Under the same classification there is also Jonas’ reply to L. von Bertalanffy (23 February 1950) and another letter from L. von Bertalanffy (27 February 1950).
  6. HJ-11-4-34 Letter from L. von Bertalanffy to Jonas (9 March 1950).
  7. HJ-11-4-35 Letter from L. von Bertalanffy to Jonas (15 March 1950).
  8. HJ-11-4-36 Letter from L. von Bertalanffy to Jonas (1 April 1950).
  9. HJ-11-4-37 Correspondence between Jonas and M. Black, the organizer of a public debate on science, biology and philosophy (December 1950).
  10. HJ-11-4-70 Letter from Jonas to Carl J. Friedrich, professor at Harvard University (28 January 1952).
  11. HJ-11-4-73 Letter from Jonas to Erwin R. Goodenough, professor at Yale University (6 December 1951).
  12. HJ-11-4-86 Letter from Jonas to Horace M. Kallen, professor at the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science of the New School for Social Research in New York (18 November 1951).
  13. HJ-11-4-94 Several letters (from 6 May 1950 to 13 November 1951) between Jonas and the editors ofMeasureconcerning the publication of ‘Is God a Mathematician?’.
  14. HJ-13-10 Manuscripts dating back to 1938–9 and written for a lecture, held by Jonas at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. One of the topics to be discussed is the dualistic representation of the world according to Gnosticism.
  15. HJ-16-17-1 Handwritten report entitled ‘Die zeitliche Struktur der Sorge’ [The Temporal Structure of Care], delivered by Jonas during the 1928–9 winter semesterSeminarwith Karl Jaspers at the University of Heidelberg.
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Bibliographic reference Franzini Tibaldeo, Roberto. Hans Jonas''Gnosticism and Modern Nihilism', and Ludwig von Bertalanffy. In: Philosophy & Social Criticism : an international, interdisciplinary journal, Vol. 38, no.3, p. 289-311 (2012)
Permanent URL http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/171033