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Description
Thi 1967 lecture by Heinrich Blücher, listed as his final lecture and transrcript edited by Alexander Bazelow, concludes the Common Course with a sustained reflection on politics, freedom, and the human condition in what he characterizes as a nihilistic age. Tracing the historical development of human consciousness from myth through metaphysics to modern ideology, Blücher argues that scientific and ideological thinking have failed to provide ethical or political guidance, leaving humanity threatened by mass society, war, and dehumanization. He criticizes the misuse of religion, science, and ideology as sources of absolute authority and calls for a return to the Socratic conception of philosophy as critical inquiry, dialogical practice, and care for the soul. Politics, he insists, must be understood as a creative, ethical activity aimed at establishing humane relations among free individuals. The lecture affirms philosophy—not system-building or doctrine, but the lifelong pursuit of wisdom—as the indispensable task for preserving freedom, responsibility, and human dignity in the modern world.
Publication Date
1967
Recommended Citation
Blücher, Heinrich, "12-XII. Politics, Man, and Freedom (1967)" (1967). Bazelow Transcripts. 12.
https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/blucher-bazelow-transcripts/12