ERIC VOEGELIN SOCIETY 2009

Toronto, ON , Canada, Sept. 3-6, 2009

105^th APSA Annual Meeting, 25^th EVS Annual International Meeting

Organizer: Ellis Sandoz, Louisiana State University  

Posted by permission of the respective authors. Copyright 2009. 

All rights reserved.

Program Summary

Panel 1. Mysticism and Politics in Voegelin’s Philosophy

Panel 2. Conscience, Expression & Liberty: Pitfalls of Political Correctness–Roundtable

Panel 3. Voegelin and the Ancients

Panel 4. Voegelin’s The Form of the American Mind and American Pragmatism as a Significant Contribution to World Philosophy

Panel 5. Voegelin’s The Political Religions After 70 years

Panel 6. Assessing Voegelin’s Critique of Hegel

Panel 7. Revisiting Reinhold Niebuhr in the 21^st Century

Panel 8. Anamnetic Literature

Panel 9. Theorists, Theologians, and Littérateurs: Evil and Modern Political Thought

Panel 10. Voegelin in Toronto, the DVD: Reflections on the 1978 York University “Hermeneutics and Structuralism” Conference–Roundtable

Panel 11. The Primacy of Persons in Politics: Empiricism and Theory

Panel 12. The Languages of Political Order: Experience and Symbolization in Non-Western Modes of Thought  

Panel 13. The Modern Philosophical Revolution: The Luminosity of Existence–Roundtable

 

PROGRAM DETAIL - 13 panels

Panel 1.  Mysticism and Politics in Voegelin’s Philosophy

Chair: Ellis Sandoz, Louisiana State University

Papers:

"James’ Pure Experience and the Creative Potential of the Metaxy" - Macon Boczek , Kent State

Joachim of Fiore and Gnosticism - Matthias Riedl, Central European University–Budapest

How far is it from Voegelin’s reflective distance to mysticism? - Peter von Sivers, University of Utah

What Is Philosophy? Reflections on Plato and the Voegelin – Strauss Impasse - Henrik Syse, International Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)

Basil of Caesarea on Christian Discernment in the Light of Eric Voegelin's Principles - Anne G. Keidel, Boston College

Disc.: 

Glenn Hughes, St. Mary’s University–San Antonio

William Petropulos, Eric Voegelin Archiv–Munich

 

Panel 2.  Conscience, Expression & Liberty: Pitfalls of Political Correctness–Roundtable

Chair: Barry Cooper, University of Calgary

Parts:  

Jodi Bruhn, Institute on Governance

John von Heyking, University of Lethbridge

Robert P. George, Princeton University

Travis D. Smith, Concordia University

 

Panel 3:  Voegelin and the Ancients

Chair: Paul Caringella, Hoover Institution–Stanford University

Papers:           

Harmony and Justice in Plato's Republic - Richard Avramenko, University of Wisconsin–Madison

Voegelin's Reading of Plato's Philebus - Bernat Torres Morales, University of Barcelona & Co-author: Josep Monserrat Molas, University of Barcelona

Aristophanic Themes in the Republic - Zdravko Planinc, McMaster University

Voegelin on Aristotle's “Science of the Polis” - Jacqueline Pfeffer Merrill, Independent Scholar

Disc: 

Ronald Srigley, Thorneloe University

Timothy Fuller, Colorado College 

 

Panel 4. Voegelin's The Form of the American Mind and American Pragmatism as a Significant Contribution to World Philosophy. 

Chair: Macon Boczek, Kent State University

Papers: 

The American Open Self:  Exploring Voegelin’s Experience of Peircian Philosophy - Clancy Smith, Duquesne University

Science and Paradox: Peirce and Voegelin on the Practice of Language amid God, Man, World, and Society - Rhydon Jackson, Independent Scholar

"Two Pragmatic Moral Universes: James vs. Dewey and Rorty" - Scott Segrest, United States Military Academy at West Point

Disc.: 

Macon Boczek, Department of Philosophy, Kent State University

Steve Ealy, Liberty Fund, Inc.

Thomas J. McPartland, Kentucky State University

 

Panel. 5. Voegelin’s The Political Religions After 70 Years

Chair:  Matthias Riedl, Central European University–Budapest 

Papers:

Interpreting Secularity: Taylor and Voegelin - Rodney Kilcup, Linfield College (emeritus)

From "political theology" to political religion": Voegelin and Carl Schmitt - Thierry Gontier, University of Lyon  

Fascism as Political Religion: The case of the Romanian Iron Guard - Ionut Biliuta, Oxford University

Disc:   

Peter Brickey LeQuire, University of Chicago

 

Panel 6. Assessing Voegelin’s Critique of Hegel

Chair:  Timothy Fuller, Colorado College               

Papers: 

Decrypt: Voegelin and Kojeve’s Hegel - Barry Cooper, U. of Calgary                   

Reflections on Hegel’s Philosophy of Right - Timothy Fuller, Colorado College            

History as Freedom? Voegelin’s Hegel - Horst Mewes, University of Colorado–Boulder    

Hegel Today - Cyril O’Regan, University of Notre Dame 

Understanding the Revolution in Philosophy - David Walsh, Catholic University of America             

Disc.:  

Harald Bergbauer, Munich School of Politics

Michael Gillespie, Duke University

 

Panel 7. Revisiting Reinhold Niebuhr in the 21^st Century

Chair: Greg Russell, University of Oklahoma

Papers: 

A Fire in their Minds: Christian Realism and Democracy Promotion - Eric Patterson, Georgetown University

Pilgrims’ Progress: The Disenchanted Destinations of Reinhold Niebuhr and Raymond Aron - Reed Davis, Seattle Pacific University

Reinhold Niebuhr on Tragedy, Irony and Politics - Daniel G. Lang, Lynchburg College

Niebuhr’s Christian Realism and Dewey’s Pragmatism: The Faith Experience - Vibeke Schou Tjalve, Danish Institute For Military Studies

Disc:  

David Mayers, Boston College

David Clinton, Baylor University

 

Panel 8. Anamnetic Literature

Chair: Charles Embry, Texas A&M University–Commerce (emeritus)

Papers:                       

A Heaven-Gram for World Politics: Hillesum, Heschel and Rilke rescuing God in exile - Meins Coetsier,Ghent University EHOC

"Cruciform Logic:" Mastering the Present in J. M. Coetzee's Age of Iron - Polly Detels, Texas A & M University-Commerce 

W.B. Yeats and the Formation of the National Consciousness - Patrick Dowdall, Independent Scholar 

Anamnesis in the Work of Stefan George - William Petropulos,  Eric Voegelin Archiv–Munich  

The Persistence of Symbol and Sacrament in Albert Camus - Matthew Connell, Louisiana State University

Disc.:

David Palmieri, Auburn University

Ron Srigley, Laurentian University

 

Panel 9.  Theorists, Theologians, and Littérateurs: Evil and Modern Political Thought

Chair:   Martin Palous, Charles University

Papers:  

Brutality, Vulgarity, and Evil in Chekhov’s Three Sisters - Lee Trepanier, Saginaw Valley State University

F.W.J. Schelling on the Metaphysics of Evil - Steven F. McGuire, Catholic University of America

Reinhold Niebuhr, Modernity, and the Problem of Evil: Towards a Politics of Hope - Matthew Sitman, Georgetown University

Psychologists of  Evil: Nietzsche and Dostoevsky on the Darkness of the Soul - Rouven Steeves, United States Air Force Academy

Voegelin’s Nietzsche: Overcoming the Problem of Evil in Zarathustra - Sarah Shea, McGill University

Disc.: 

Michael Henry, St. John’s University

Paul Corey, Humber College

 

Panel 10.  Voegelin in Toronto, the DVD: Reflections on the 1978 York University "Hermeneutics and Structuralism" Conference–ROUNDTABLE

Chair:  Zdravko Planinc, McMaster University

Parts:  

Barry Cooper, University of Calgary

Joseph Gonda, York University – Glendon Campus

Frederick Lawrence, Boston College

John O'Neill, York University

Panel 11.  The Primacy of Persons in Politics: Empiricism and Theory

Chair: Thomas Heilke, University of Kansas

Papers:           

Can Politics be Creative? Theory and Empirical Evidence - Thomas Heilke, University of Kansas

Friendship as Precondition and Consequence of Creativity in Politics - John von Heyking, University of Lethbridge

The Hidden Power for the Creation of Order - Peter Nitschke, Hochschule Vechta

The true form of a government: The constitutional movements of power - Tilo Schabert, University of Erlangen  

 

Panel 12. The Languages of Political Order: Experience and Symbolization in Non-Western Modes of Thought

Chair:  Timothy Hoye, Texas Woman’s University  

Papers:  

Place and Identity in Palestinian Literature:Susan Abulhawa’s The Scar of David - Samah Elhajibrahim, Texas Woman’s University

Styles of Truth in Gao Xingjian’s Soul Mountain  - Timothy Hoye, Texas Woman’s University

Religion and Politics in the Constitutions of Japan - Kyoko Inoue, University of Illinois, Chicago (Emerita)

The Geopolitics of the Two Koreas and the United States Seen through the North Korean Nuclear Issue" - Yu Nam Kim, Dankook University (Emeritus)           

Disc:  

Paul Kiparsky, Stanford University  

Thomas J. McPartland, Kentucky State University

John Robert “Haj” Ross, University of North Texas  

 

Panel 13. The Modern Philosophical Revolution: The Luminosity of Existence–Roundtable

 

Chair: Michael Franz, Loyola College of Maryland

Parts:  

Thomas Heilke, University of Kansas

Glenn Hughes, St. Mary's University–San Antonio

Henrik Syse, Int’l Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)

Rouven J. Steeves, USAF Academy

Respondent: David Walsh, Catholic University of America