This is the first recent translation of a crucial text by the German philosopher of life, Ludwig Klages (1872–1956). Klages was a philosopher of experience-beyond-the-subject, in other words, of ecstasy. Whereas a critique of the Modern subject and its prevailing rational mindset is common in contemporary philosophy, Klages is one of the few to endeavour himself into asking how subject critique affects experience. As we would expect, once disentangled from a perceiving subject, ‘experience’ lays bare a prior link between consciousness and life, an original bond which rationality (Klages prefers the word ‘spirit’, Geist) can only damage. In order to be ‘experienced’, the link which connects consciousness to life requires a demolishing of the standard subject position; the latter has been construed by spirit (‘reason’ or ‘will’, respectively). For confirmation (the concept of ‘verification’ would leave rationality still unscathed), Klages primarily resorts to both Classical and Romantic literary sources, Eastern and Western. In the Greek literary and philosophical tradition, the aforementioned ‘link’ has been paradigmatically termed as ‘Eros’ – even though the Platonic tradition has done everything to alienate this original life force from life itself and make it subservient to an imaginary world of non-being. Ever since, this world of non-being, hostile to life, has prevailed over Western thinking, Klages holds. The re-emergence of Eros’ experiential, life-affirming side, along with the Romantic subject critique (from Schopenhauer onwards) enabled Klages to put it at the centre of thinking and reflection.
The more I study Klages’ philosophy, the less I understand why it has been mostly ignored. It has so much to offer to a re-appreciation of inner awareness, spiritual life, nature, etc. The current Covid-19 pandemic is only the umpteenth confirmation of Klages’ main thesis that life is being destroyed by an inanimate dynamic which has, to a large extent, overpowered humanity and its overall mindset. My suspicion is that both the difficulty of Klages’ German (in combination with the traditional monolingualism in the Anglophone world), and the proneness of academic Anglo-Saxon philosophy to ‘rationality’, ‘argument’, etc. has not favoured the reception of his work.
The present beautiful translation of Vom kosmogonischen Eros by Mav Kuhn might inaugurate more Klages translations in the near future. Theion Publishing has boldly initiated a series of books about Klages. Earlier, a first introduction-cum-fragmentary-translation to Klages was published by Paul Bishop, along with a re-edition of an American academic thesis on Klages from the sixties, written by Gunnar Alksnis, and introduced by Paul Bishop. Bishop also wrote a very insightful and well-documented introduction to Of Cosmogonic Eros. In it, Bishop situates Klages’ theses in their historical and philosophical contexts. It becomes clear that, in Klages’ works, a whole tradition of philosophy issues have been completely underrated, if not marginalized, in favour of ‘mainstream’ phenomenology. Who is still familiar today with the philosophical profundity of Goethe’s Faust II, Bachofen’s theories about maternal law, mystical dimensions in Nietzsche, Novalis’, Carus’ or Fechner’s philosophies of nature, the poetry of Lenau and Eichendorff? These and similar sources play a supportive role in Of Cosmogonic Eros.
As already mentioned, translating Klages is a colossal task. The syntax of his lengthy German sentences does not match with the average structure of English phrasing. The translator has had to make compromises but has succeeded in producing a wonderfully accessible text.
The entire book has been beautifully edited, with a hardcover and dustjacket. My sole critique concerns the misleading front cover, which displays a Satanic worshipping ceremony, painted by the nineteenth-century illustrator Emile Bayard. The painting is beautiful yet not informative about the content of the translated text. Satanic cults are a modern, nineteenth-century invention, whereas the ancient rites and ceremonies to which Klages refers are rather a symbolic expression of eternal ‘facts’ of consciousness; the latter celebrate life and not death.
The book also contains a translation of a seldom available lecture by Klages’ friend and colleague, the philosopher Alfred Schuler. This makes it a precious publication, which deserves being widely studied by those philosophers who are interested in exploring new ways in the history of philosophy.