Eric Voegelin Society Meeting 2001

San Francisco, CA, August 31 – September 2, 2001

97^th APSA Annual Meeting, 17^th EVS Annual International Meeting

Organizer: Ellis Sandoz , Louisiana State University

Program Summary

Panel 1. Voegelin, Literature, and Philosophy

Panel 2. Medieval Theory and Modern Political Ideology

Panel 3. Voegelin on Plato and Aristotle

Panel 4. Voegelin and the Pre-Socratics

Panel 5. Ethics and the Law

Panel 6. Perspectives on Hitler, National Socialism, and the Holocaust

Panel 7. Gnosticism and Varieties of Modernity

Program Details – 7 panels

Panel 1. Voegelin, Literature, and Philosophy
Chair: Margaret Hrezo, Radford University

Papers:

“Spirit and Power: Political Order in Dostoevsky and Nietzsche” – Todd Meyers, University of Phoenix

“Bedeviled by Boredom: A Theory of Consciousness in Dostoevsky’s Possessed” – Richard Avramenko, Georgetown University

“The Poetic Core of Eric Voegelin” – Max Arnott, Independent Scholar

“Voegelin and Michael Polanyi on the Relationship Between Epistemology and Politics” – Mark Mitchell, Georgetown University

Discussants:

Steve Ealy, Liberty Fund
Gilbert Weiss, University of Vienna
Hans-Jörg Sigwart, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg

Panel 2. Medieval Theory and Modern Political Ideology
Chair: Ellis Sandoz, Louisiana State University

Papers:

“Nicholas of Cusa and the Grounds of Toleration” – John von Heyking, University of Lethbridge

“The Political Thought of Joachim de Fiore” – Matthias Riedl, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg

“Entzauberung and Verzauberung: Some Problems of the Concept of Immanentization” – Govert J. Buijs, Free University of Amsterdam

Discussants:

Todd Breyfogle, University of Denver

Peter von Sivers, University of Utah
Tilo Schabert, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg

Panel 3. Voegelin on Plato and Aristotle

Co-Chairs: Dante Germino, University of Amsterdam & James M. Rhodes, Marquette University

Papers:

“Voegelin’s Theory of Interpretation as Applied to Plato and Aristotle” – Dante Germino, University of Amsterdam

“An Old Obligation”– James M. Rhodes, Marquette University

“The Erotics of Recognition in Plato” – Zdravko Planinc, McMaster University

“Plato, the Prophet”– Tilo Schabert, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg

“Voegelin’s Aristotle and Conservative Reform” -Timothy Collins, University of North Alabama

Discussants:

George Klosko, University of Virginia
Dietmar Herz, University of Erfurt
James Wiser, San Francisco University

Panel 4. Voegelin and the Pre-Socratics

Chair: Richard Geldard, Yeshiva University

Papers:

“Voegelin, the Pre-Socratics, and the Noetic Quest” – Richard Geldard, Yeshiva University

“Hesiod as Precursor of the Pre-Socratic Philosophers”– Richard Moorton, Connecticut College
Dynamics and Psychological Implications of the Leap in Being” – David I. Tresan, Independent Scholar, “The Pre-Socratics:
Discussants:

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

Panel 5. Ethics and the Law

Chair: Andreas A. M. Kinneging, University of Leiden

Papers:

“Voegelin’s Conception of the Moral Order” – Andreas A. M. Kinneging, University of Leiden
“Comparing Voegelin’s ‘Representation’ and the Constitutional Lawyer’s ‘Interpretation’” – Lewis H. LaRue, Washington & Lee University

“Voegelin and Constitutionalism” – Paul B. Cliteur, University of Leiden

“Voegelin’s The Nature of the Law” – Patrick H. Martin, Hebert Law Center, Louisiana State University

Discussant:

Patrick B. Brown, Seattle University

Panel 6. Perspectives on Hitler, National Socialism, and the Holocaust

Chair: Marie Baird, Duquesne University

Papers:
“Anamnesis and the Gray Zone: A Voegelinian Meditation on Holocaust Survival” – Marie Baird, Duquesne University
“National Socialism as a Political Religion” – Michael Burleigh, Washington and Lee University
“‘Heidegger and the Germans’: Voegelin on Ontotheology and Nazism” – Oona Ajzenstat, University of Toronto

“Voegelin’s Analysis of Nazism in the Light of Recent Historical Research” – Clifford F. Porter, Defense Language Institute and Presidio of Monterey

Discussants:

Klaus Vondung, University of Siegen
Brendan Purcell, University College Dublin

Panel 7. Gnosticism and Varieties of Modernity

Chair: Stephen A. McKnight, University of Florida
Papers:

“Voegelin’s View of Gnosticism and Modernity in Two Keynote Lectures from 1971 and 1975” – Stephen A. McKnight, University of Florida

“‘Gnosis’ in Eric Voegelin’s Philosophy” Stefan Rossbach, University of Kent at Canterbury

“Experience and Symbolization in Qumran: Are There Modern Equivalences?” – Mark Sinnett, Saint John’s College (Annapolis)

“Clarity Before Currency: Gnosticism and the Analysis of Spiritual Disorder” – Michael Franz, Loyola College of Maryland

Discussants:

Thomas Heilke, University of Kansas

Klaus Vondung, University of Siegen