Charles Eisenstein

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Charles Eisenstein (* 1967 ) is an American cultural philosopher and author . In addition to his writing activities, he works as a speaker and freelance lecturer. He is considered an important theoretician of the Occupy movement .

person

Eisenstein graduated in 1989 in mathematics and philosophy at Yale University . After spending several years in Taiwan , where he worked as a translator , he returned to the United States, where he taught at Penn State University and at Goddard College in Plainfield (Vermont). Today, Eisenstein lives as a freelance writer and international speaker with his second wife and four sons in Harrisburg , Pennsylvania .

philosophy

For Eisenstein, the process of civilization is driven by the attempt to gain control over nature . This happens through the development of an idea of ​​the separation of man from his environment and the associated, step-by-step objectification of all being. The apparent separation unfolds through various stages, including the use of fire and tools , the elaboration of language and mathematics, agriculture , the measurement of time and the use of machines . The emergence and expansion of the money economy is of particular importance , since the ever more extensive possibilities of assigning a monetary value to living beings, objects, activities and relationships mean the strongest expression of the objectification of the world and thus the separation of the apparently independent subject from the world .

According to Eisenstein, however, the project of separation must inevitably fail because it is based on an illusion. Man is essentially a part of the cosmos and exists in and through his relationships. He cannot subject nature to complete control, since he himself belongs to it. The failure of the enterprise of separation shows itself in the great current crises: the ecological crisis, the energy crisis , the crisis of the health system, the economic and financial crisis and the political crisis.

He sees dualism as one of the main problems in its forms of separation of self and environment , of sacred and profane, of good and bad. However, he does not see the way out in a return to the Paleolithic way of life. Ultimately, the separation is also part of evolution. Its purpose is to reach a new level of consciousness . In this respect, the reunification of the artificially separated areas of life on a higher level of integration represents the only possibility to secure the survival of humanity and to achieve actual progress.

Eisenstein calls for the abandonment of control efforts and a move towards an ecological, more independent and creative way of life.

Works

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Biography on the author's website , accessed April 19, 2013
  2. ^ Profile at The Guardian , accessed April 19, 2013
  3. ^ Author's page at Scorpio Verlag , accessed on April 19, 2013
  4. ^ Article in the Aargauer Zeitung , accessed on April 19, 2013
  5. ^ FAZ article on the Occupy movement in Frankfurt a. M. , Retrieved April 19, 2013
  6. ^ Penn State University event announcement , accessed April 19, 2013
  7. ↑ Biography on the author's website , accessed April 19, 2013
  8. ↑ Penn State University college newspaper  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed April 19, 2013@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.collegian.psu.edu  
  9. ^ Penn State University event announcement , accessed April 19, 2013
  10. ↑ Charles Eisenstein: The Renaissance of Mankind: About the Great Crisis of Our Civilization and the Birth of a New Age. Munich: Scorpio Verlag 2012, ISBN 978-3-942166-94-2

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Eisenstein, Charles
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American cultural philosopher and author
DATE OF BIRTH 1967