Eric Voegelin (1901-1985) produced dense political philosopher spanning some 34 volumes of books.  A key focus was his attack on what could be termed ‘Radical Enlightenment’ theory, or the rise of a political-religion, which the Enlightenment became.  As with the Sophist Protagoras, the ‘Radical Enlightenment’ replaced God with man.  Man, not God, became the basis for morality, reality, meaning and existence.  Voegelin termed such concepts as ‘apostatic revolt’, or the revolution of apostates rejected God.  From this base, Marxism, Socialism, and Nazism, naturally arise.

Voegelin identified that ‘The Enlightenment’ was a family of ideas, revolting against Christianity, medieval mores and attitudes, and the organised Church.  It embraced a purported ‘rationalism’ based around ‘science’ to the exclusion of just about everything else.  Morality would be developed, as natural sciences revealed truth and objectivity about life and existence.  Progress in economics, society, and culture were thus assured, as long as the mysteries of nature and biology were revealed and explained.

While Voegelin recognised the secular aspects of the ‘Enlightenment’ he identified the religious nature and its spiritual, mystical tendencies.  Comte’s Religion of Humanity was an expression of this new religiosity of ‘reason’, captured in Thomas Paine’s ‘The Age of Reason’, or Jefferson’s belief that the Atheist ‘rationalist’ French Revolution would improve political and social life and lead to progress.  What such ideals led to was death, suffering, the dismemberment of culture and tradition and the platform for socialism, Communism and Nazism.  Voegelin recognised and wrote about this ineluctable tendency from the ‘Age of Reason’ to the Age of Totalitarianism, still with us in the guise of Corona Medical Nazism and the general depreciation of democracy with vote fraud, election theft and unaccountable ‘deep state agencies’ the norm.

Voegelin draws the line from the ‘Enlightenment’ to Totalitarianism in ‘From Enlightenment to Revolution’, and ‘Crisis and the Apocalypse of Man’.  The shredding and disintegration of Western civilisation, so obvious in 2022, and accelerated by Corona totalitarian policies, along with unfettered immigration and a host of anti-traditional policies was long ago identified by Voegelin.  His philosophical diagnosis of the Western crisis is the foundation for his response, namely; restoration of pre-modern symbols and experiences, so they can become a living force which to oppose the disintegration of the modern age.

In analysing the ‘Enlightenment’ Voegelin makes Voltaire an important figure.  Voltaire dissolves St. Augustine’s notion of sacred history and replaces it with ‘inner religiousness’ and the ‘intramundance spirit of man’, rather than the spirit of Christ.  Reason becomes deified, expunging the immateriality of Christ and replacing it with animal existence.  There is no need to search for a ‘truth’.  The animal existence is the truth and reason can be used to understand and improve that condition. For Voegelin this material secularisation was the crux of the Western crisis and deformation. 

It is thus a small step to Hobbes, and the all-powerful ruler, or omnipotent governance.  Hobbesian political theory for Voegelin, ends up in an authoritarian state become ‘science’ has de-divinised the cosmos, created a secular culture and a narrowing of consciousness and purpose.  Politics, on the foundation stone of ‘science’, is now divinised, substituting man and his technology for God and the logos.  A great leader can now replace God, or at the very least, the state now assumes the role of the sacred, omnipotent, moral, just and resourceful.  For Voegelin this aversion to transcendental truths is a ‘logophobia’, with the means justifying a ‘scientific’ end, regardless of truth. 

Voegelin identified both Comte and Marx as indicators of a spiritual disease that combined self-divinisation and self-salvation.  Materialist philosophies posit the inevitable perfection of progress and man’s development.  Nature or the ‘worldly god’ replaces the divine.  Condorcet’s or Nietzsche’s ‘Superman’ will appear.  These ‘Supermen’ negate the need for God, or his mercy, redemption, and love.  In fact the logical outcome of ‘Enlightenment’ materialism is the complete destruction of mankind’s civilisation, since that destruction according to Voegelin is what the Enlighteners propose, to allow the unfettered advance of man to become ‘Superman’.

Voegelin is well worth a read.  He was right.  The religion of ‘Reason’ leads to state fascism and totalitarianism, to ‘one science’ to rule them all, to Corona and its anti-human policies and agenda, to a deconstruction of faith, reason and civilisation.