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Enlightenment in an Age of Destruction

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Enlightenment in an Age of Destruction

Part of the book series: Critical Political Theory and Radical Practice ((CPTRP))

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Abstract

There is not a single and unique enlightenment in world history, nor can a single nation claim to be its universal representative. There are many historical, philosophical, and mythological figures of enlightenment: from the Vedic hymns to Agni to the Greek cult of Prometheus and from Krishna’s teachings of Yoga to Kant’s Was ist Aufklärung. Modern nuclear warfare took the symbol of light and enlightenment (“the brightness of one thousand suns”) to announce the utter destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In an age that has transformed enlightenment into dogma, we have to recognize in myth—the myth of Prometheus and Quetzalcoatl, the saga of Krishna or Oedipus—an archaic expression of enlightenment.

Translated by Danielle Carlo.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    American Prometheus. The Triumph and Tragedy of J. R. Oppenheimer is the title of a recent best seller by K. Bird and M. J. Sherwin.

  2. 2.

    “En arche en logos/logos en pros theos/logos en theos” (“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”).

  3. 3.

    Rig-Veda, II-2, 8–9; II-1, 12–13; I-1, 7; I-12, 7–9; I-31, 18; I-77, 3.

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  1. New York University, Princeton, NJ, USA

    Eduardo Subirats

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Subirats, E. (2018). Enlightenment in an Age of Destruction. In: Enlightenment in an Age of Destruction. Critical Political Theory and Radical Practice. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70784-6_4

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