Eric Voegelin and the Metaphysics of History

Eric Voegelin (1901-1985) was one of the 20th-century's greatest thinkers. Most remembered for his five-volume philosophy of history (Order and History) and for his critiques of “Gnostic” political ideologies, he worked at Stanford's Hoover Institution for the last 15 years of his life. Voegelin devoted much of his work to a search for the source of order in history. Order and History studies the efforts of world civilizations to articulate experiences of order through cosmological myth, revelation, and philosophy. The differentiation across these symbolic forms over time, Voegelin contended, reflects humanity’s increasing attunement to the ground of being. Such attunement is crucial for a genuine renewal of political order.  This discussion focused on Voegelin’s metaphysical analysis of history. 

Speakers Matt Bowman, Executive Director, Zephyr Institute Sarah Thomas, Associate Director, Zephyr Institute