|
Lecturer(s)
|
-
Krappmann Joerg, doc. Mgr. Ph.D.
|
|
Course content
|
Parareligious and Occult Movements in Modernity With the emergence of Modernity around 1900, interest in the revitalisation and reinvention of parareligious, occult, and spiritualist modes of thought increased significantly. These currents exerted a subtle yet lasting influence on the theoretical, cultural, and political developments of the modern era. The lecture provides an overview of the leading representatives of these movements and subsequently examines forms of "occult" thinking across a range of academic and cultural disciplines, including the natural sciences (Wilhelm Bölsche), psychology (Carl du Prel, Carl Gustav Jung), education (Rudolf Steiner and Waldorf education), literature (Rainer Maria Rilke, Franz Werfel, Gustav Meyrink), the visual arts (Alfred Kubin, Stanisław Przybyszewski), politics (Walther Rathenau, National Socialism), and the study of religion (Alfred Schuler, Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels).
|
|
Learning activities and teaching methods
|
|
Lecture
|
|
Learning outcomes
|
The aim of the lecture is to familiarise students with parareligious and occult movements that are often treated only marginally in general cultural and social history, yet have played a significant role in shaping aspects of modernity. The lecture offers students an alternative perspective on Modernity and Postmodernity and encourages them to engage critically with selected cultural, social, and intellectual issues of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Students will gain an overview of the major parareligious, occult, and spiritualist movements of Modernity and their historical development. They will be able to place these intellectual movements within their broader cultural, social, and intellectual context and explain their influence on selected areas of modern culture, science, and politics. They will also develop the ability to critically reflect on alternative interpretations of Modernity and Postmodernity and apply these perspectives to the analysis of selected cultural and social phenomena.
|
|
Prerequisites
|
No specific prerequisites.
|
|
Assessment methods and criteria
|
Written exam
Successful completion of an written examination assessing the knowledge acquired during the lecture.
|
|
Recommended literature
|
-
Daum, Andreas W. Wissenschaftspopularisierung im 19. Jahrhundert. München. 2002.
-
Pauen, Michael. (1994). Dithyrambiker des Untergangs. Gnostizismus in Ästhetik und Philosophie der Moderne. Berlin.
-
Pytlik, Priska. (2005). Okkultismus und Moderne, Kapitel I, S. 23-86. Paderborn.
-
Styfhals, Willem. (2019). No Spiritual Investment in the World. Gnosticism and Postwar German Philosophy. Ithaca.
-
Zander, Helmut. (2024). Religion und Politik in Christentum und Islam. Boston/Berlin.
|