La experiencia de la trascendenciauna introducción al pensamiento de Eric Voegelin

Resumen

The aim of this research is to analyse the notion of experience in the work of Eric Voegelin. The main hypothesis of the paper is that, due to the central role of the experience of transcendence for the German philosopher, the analyses of his work, focused on his contributions to the field of political philosophy, are restrictive and insufficient. In this sense, a novel perspective is offered, presenting Voegelin as a philosopher and arguing that his peculiar view of politics stems from his prior understanding of experience. In order to support the hypothesis, the thesis analyses Voegelin's concept of transcendent experience and his metaphysical theory of consciousness. It is thus discovered that, in contrast to the modern interpretation, there is a luminous level of the psyche that conditions the experience of participation. This situates human existence in the Metaxy, i.e. at the intersection between immanence and transcendence. The research is organised as follows. First, after presenting, in the introduction, the hypothesis and the working method, a first section is included to situate Voegelin's work in the context of contemporary philosophy. This is followed by an extensive biography of the author and a study of his influences. After explaining how the experience of transcendent being is possible and to what extent it gives meaning to the experiential, we proceed to determine its consequences. Indeed, the experience of the human being's participation in and dependence on his or her transcendent source has repercussions on language, political praxis and the understanding of history. Finally, before the concluding section, the concept of ideology, understood as the impossibility of the determinant experience, is reviewed. The research proceeds in concentric circles and has a reconstructive style, as is typical of the author under study. There are not many theses in the Spanish language devoted to this German-born philosopher and our work can also serve as an introduction to his thought. The main contribution of the thesis is to show that Voegelin's whole philosophy depends on the link between the human being and transcendence and on the consciousness of the human being made possible by the structure of intentionality.