Body ideas and political communities: challenging contemporary democracy in dialogue with Eric Voegelin

My contribution will be developed on three levels. First of all I will investigate Voegelin’s conception of race in his early work, considering in particular its relation with political communities. Philosophical anthropology becomes for Voegelin the instrument to understand political ideas as originated by the experience of human being as a corporeal-psychic unity. Secondly, I will focus on two concepts characterizing the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead that resonate in Voegelin’s thought concerning race, science and political communities, namely those of ‘climate of opinion’ and ‘fallacy of misplaced concreteness’. Finally, I will develop a critical consideration of Voegelin’s anthropology, testing its validity in front of contemporary issues, such as ecology, the pandemic and the crisis of democracy