I eagerly await the English language release of F. Juenger's book. Klaus, excellent summary of Heidegger. The fundamental problem with Heidegger is that there is no way to distinguish between good and evil. The two are reduced to presence or non-presence of being. I believe EJ is better than H in this regard.
On another note, is anyone aware of currently active scholars who specialize in the thought of FJ? Jd joeldietz.com | twitter.com/jdietz | twitter.com/fractastical (tech) On Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 3:11 PM, klaus gauger <klaus_gau...@yahoo.com>wrote: > > > Dear Simon, > > > the difference between Jünger and Heidegger is this: Jünger was mainly an > exact observer, not a philosopher. His observations of modern world and > especially the modern war all merge into the figure of the "worker", which > is the coming "Gestalt" of the 20th and 21th century. Heidegger was no > brilliant observer, but a philosopher. His interest in modern technology is > connected with the fundamental question of being (Seinsfrage) which he > started to develop in his fundamental book "Being and Time" (Sein und Zeit). > Heidegger asks himself, how a genuine, real "being" is possible in a modern > technological society. Modern technology himself is for Heidegger the > practical and concrete outcome of the western metaphysics that started in > ancient Greece 3000 years ago. Heidegger read Jüngers "The worker" and his > conclusion was: The present technological age with his coming "Gestalt", the > worker, is the culmination of the total "Seinsvergessenheit" (total oblivion > of being). In his lectures about Nietzsche he talks about the "european > nihilism" and "the will to power" (Wille zur Macht") that is the driving > force behing the european nihilism that uses technology as his main > instrument for his unlimited will to power (This is a precise philosophical > description of the figure of the worker of Ernst Jünger, and Heidegger > understood this figure and the book "The Worker" quite well). The "Gestell" > (which is the sum of all technological instruments and installations in our > society) makes a genuine, real "being" in our world absolutely impossible. > So modern technology makes a real, genuine being impossible. Heidegger says > that modern man has to overcome the present technological stage and has to > overcome the instrumental thinking (Horkheimer/Adorno) which started > with the subjectivism of Descartes and modern rationalism and Heidegger says > that we have to develop a new way of thinking. He gives the following > example: There are several ways to see a river (like the Rhine in Germany, > our biggest river). If we see it in a rational way, as a mean of > transportation for boats, as a mean for irrigation for the fields, as a mean > to produce electricity (for powerplants driven by water), etc. we perceive > the Rhine only as an instrument for our technological and comercial goals. > What we need is a new way of thinking where we see nature not only as a mean > for our comercial and instrumental goals, as a big reserve that we can > exploite freely and without mercy. We need a thinking where we see > nature and the objects of nature as a value in itself, not only as a value > in relation to our comercial and instrumental interests. As you can see, > Heidegger said in more philosophical words more or less the same things as > Friedrich Georg Jünger in his "failure of technology". And Ernst Jüngers > "The worker" is the platform, the diagnosis from where the ideas of F.G. > Jünger and also Heidegger started. > > > Yours, > > Klaus > > > > > --- Simon Friedrich *<simonfriedr...@yahoo.de>* schrieb am *Fr, > 23.10.2009: > * > > > Von: Simon Friedrich <simonfriedr...@yahoo.de> > Betreff: AW: AW: [juenger_org] Re-publication of The Failure of Technology > An: juenger_org@yahoogroups.de > Datum: Freitag, 23. Oktober 2009, 11:30 > > Well done, Klaus. The more prominent is not necessarily therefore the > leader. > > Simon > http://ernst- juenger.blogspot .com <http://ernst-juenger.blogspot.com/> > > > ------------------------------ > *Von:* klaus gauger <klaus_gauger@ yahoo.com> > *An:* juenger_org@ yahoogroups. de > *Gesendet:* Freitag, den 23. Oktober 2009, 11:22:28 Uhr > *Betreff:* AW: [juenger_org] Re-publication of The Failure of Technology > > > > Dear Greg, > > > it´s just the opposite way how it happened: Heidegger was influenced deeply > by Ernst Jünger and maybe also by his brother Friedrich Georg. Heidegger > read "The worker" in the thirties and was impressed by this book. The > anotations and comments Heidegger made to "the worker" are published now > (http://www.perlenta > ucher.de/ buch/20065. html <http://www.perlentaucher.de/buch/20065.html>). I > wrote myself a longer essay about Jünger and the question of technology that > is online in the WWW: > > > http://www.lammla. de/domains/ arnshaugk/ diktynna/ ej_technikkritik > .pdf<http://www.lammla.de/domains/arnshaugk/diktynna/ej_technikkritik.pdf> > > > Yours, > > Klaus > > > --- Gregory Whitfield *<gregd...@yahoo. com>* schrieb am *Fr, 23.10.2009: > * > > * > Von: Gregory Whitfield <gregd...@yahoo. com> > Betreff: [juenger_org] Re-publication of The Failure of Technology > An: juenger_org@ yahoogroups. de > Datum: Freitag, 23. Oktober 2009, 8:14 > > * * ** * Relative newcomer to Juenger that I am , I wonder to what > degree Juenger was influenced -- if at all -- by Jaspers, Spengler and > Heidegger regarding his antipathy towards modernity and technology ? > > Taking the point further ( the banality and dangers of technology as mass > 'culture' ) I find Horkheimer and Adorno's "Dialectic of Enlightenment / > Enlightenment as Mass Deception" to be very relevant, though I markedly > qualify that by saying I am no great fan at all of the Frankfurt School and > their aims and affiliations. > > http://www.marxists .org/reference/ archive/adorno/ 1944/culture- industry. > htm<http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/adorno/1944/culture-industry.htm> > > Greg. > > --- On *Thu, 22/10/09, Richard Krähenbühl <ri...@t-online. de>* wrote: > > > From: Richard Krähenbühl <ri...@t-online. de> > Subject: Re: [juenger_org] Re-publication of The Failure of Technology > To: juenger_org@yahoogroups.de > Date: Thursday, 22 October, 2009, 11:34 PM > > Dear Simon, > who knows, perhaps the growing perplexity of mankind in today's world may > on the other hand favor and promote some deeper analysis, some analysis > hitherto overlooked. People assailed by the all the evident secondary > effects of today's technology may be happy to find out about Friedrich Georg > Jünger having written his prophetic book long ago. Published at a time when > people still had high hopes in the liberating promises of technology. As > once stated here, i would not have known EJ and his brother FGJ, if it were > not from reading the works by a notable German astrologer, Wolfgang > Doebereiner, who quite often quoted EJ and FGJ in his books. Doebereiner > somewhere even goes so far as to modify the popular Goebbels slogan to the > masses: "Wollt ihr den totalen Krieg", which resounded with an overwhelming > "Jaaaah" from the hypnotized public; modifying it with a more contemporary > sounding "Wollt ihr die totale Technik?" > Ample reasons to be pessimistic, it seems. > > For me, Georg Friedrich's book "Perfektion der Technik" has got something > of an unsparing diagnosis. As you say, gründlich, and with a depth of vision > lacking in so many contemporary commentators, and, of course, endowed with > the WOW-effect, as i would call it, of someone having been capable to > foresee all these present troubles, be it environmental, exploitative. ..you > name it. My optimism derives from the fact that an unsparing diagnosis may > have a better chance of healing the disease. My optimism derives from the > fact that people often are not as stupid as they are believed to be. Your > blog and the list here are just one instance among many others to prove it. > And of course, there have been all those develompments to the year 2009, for > the better or for the worse. > It may sound strange, but reading the Juenger brothers always instills some > hope in me. For instance EJ often brings in the grand serpent. He sees the > serpent shedding it's skin whenever cataclysms happen, the catastrophes you > are talking about. What is he talking about? > > "...An ancient Force ascending serpentine > The unhasting spirals of the aeonic road. > > That's Sri Aurobindo speaking; in a sonnet called "Evolution". > Evolution as a serpentine force unfolding. > Man has been called the "crown of evolution": Sri Aurobindo challenges > this statement. From a Christian point of view, the theologician Pierre > Teilhard de Chardin has written about this evolutionary topic as well. Has > evolution ended with the appearance of man? Or is it continuing? Will there > be something beyond? That's the question arising in me, when EJ talks about > the skin-shedding serpent. > > Hey, that was great,Simon, what you wrote about the elements, the fire and > it all. > > Yours > Richard > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > *From:* Simon > Friedrich<http://uk.mc505.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=simonfriedr...@yahoo.de> > *To: juenger_org@yahoogroups.de ose?to=juenger_...@yahoogroups.de> > *Sent:* Thursday, October 22, 2009 9:19 AM > *Subject:* AW: [juenger_org] Re-publication of The Failure of Technology > > Yes, Richard, it made my day too when they replied this way. I wasn't > expecting it. I wonder what sort of distribution and marketing it will get > though.... I don't know Alethes or the International Institute of Arts and > Letters (though name of the latter is impressive enough), I wonder how much > publicity this reprint will get. We'll have to help them with own little > efforts! > > This book explains so much about technology and so "grundlich" - far more > than the cleverest contemporary commentators, who mess around on the surface > and have lost sight of the fire in all the smoke of details and "solutions". > > Unfortunately I also find reading this book very depressing - it only > confirms that our developments can only end in catastrophe. The only > question is the degree of that catastrophe and if humanity will learn > anything by it. As EJ says, the Titans are only stopped by catastrophe. This > will inevitably happen, and thank the gods that it will, for humanity's sake > and the earth's. But the question remains if humanity will learn anything > from it all. I am pessimistic - two world wars only promoted the perfection > and faith in technology. > > Dare I be quite frank? I can only assume that the coming catastrophes will > dwarf even the world wars. The elemental powers that FGJ talks about are > only more enslaved and pent-up now than back then. When they find their > freedom from man's chains, may the gods help us. Of the 4 elements it is > Fire that is particularly worrisome. Water and Earth have been exploited and > exhausted, but Fire has only been multiplied and distributed to every small > corner of the world. It is momentarily contained - in refineries, nuclear > and other power plants, factories, combustion engines, heating furnaces, the > whole electrical grid. But fuel is everywhere, and increased in its > volatility by the retreat of water and earth. If, WHEN, this fire gets > loose, the "firestorms" of Ernst Juenger's Eumeswil may be the result. Even > the summer fires in Greece, California, Spain etc are not unrelated - bad > omens. > > I told my father recently that if I were to write a book about the last few > centuries of civilization it would be called "The failure of humanity". > Imagine: we come all this way over so many generations, with so much hope > and so much sacrifice to realize a future utopia, only to arrive and > discover that we have actually destroyed humanity, merely prepared the > ground for someone else, be it the insect or the robot - or most likely, the > robot-man of a Brave New World. Talk about a grand disappointment! > > All the more reason to become an anarch and find your own meaning in life > beyond society's successes or failures. > > Forgive my pessimistic tone - but "succeed in playing life as a game and > you will find honey in nettles and hemlock" (badly paraphrased from > Eumeswil). > > Simon > http://ernst- juenger.blogspot .com <http://ernst-juenger.blogspot.com/> > > > ------------------------------ > *Von:* Richard Krähenbühl <ri...@t-online. de> > *An:* juenger_org@ yahoogroups. de > *Gesendet:* Mittwoch, den 21. Oktober 2009, 22:09:52 Uhr > *Betreff:* Re: [juenger_org] Re-publication of The Failure of Technology > > > > You made my day, dear Simon. That's great news! > FGJ was so ahead of his time. > He seems to be catching up. I always found it such a pity that his works > should have fallen into oblivion. > > Thanks once more. > Rich > > > ----- Original Message ----- > *From:* Simon > Friedrich<http://uk.mc505.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=simonfriedr...@yahoo.de> > *To: juenger_org@yahoogroups.de ose?to=juenger_...@yahoogroups.de> > *Cc:* Tobias > Wimbauer<http://uk.mc505.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=wimba...@web.de> > *Sent:* Wednesday, October 21, 2009 8:19 AM > *Subject:* [juenger_org] Re-publication of The Failure of Technology > > > Dear List, > > I eventually got around to writing to the rights holders of F.G Jünger´s > "Die Perfektion der Technik" (The Failure of Technology) to persuade them to > reprint this magically insightful book in English. > > They replied that Alethes Press, the publishing arm of the International > Institute of Arts and Letters, will shortly be publishing it! > > Excellent news - I am re-reading it now and am again and again impressed by > F.G.J´s deep insights into the true foundations and consequences of > technology. Insights which I believe also prove that myth speaks about > deeper realities than reason can reach - he certainly came to much of his > understanding through his deep knowledge of Greek mythology, in particular > of the nature of the Titans. > > This book matches anything EJ wrote - and I say that as a very devoted fan > of EJ´s. > > Simon > http://ernst- juenger.blogspot .com <http://ernst-juenger.blogspot.com/> > > > > ------------------------------ > I am using the Free version of SPAMfighter<http://www.spamfighter.com/len> > . > We are a community of 6 million users fighting spam. > SPAMfighter has removed 662 of my spam emails to date. > The Professional version does not have this message. > > > > > ------------------------------ > I am using the Free version of SPAMfighter<http://www.spamfighter.com/len> > . > We are a community of 6 million users fighting spam. > SPAMfighter has removed 662 of my spam emails to date. > The Professional version does not have this message. > > ** > > > > > > >
