10119 THE RETURN OF THE IRRATIONAL: MODERN OCCULTISM AND THE REVOLT AGAINST REASON

Dr Kenneth Hughes, Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, University of Cape Town

In the year 1200 no thinking person in Europe believed in a Flat Earth, but by the year 1900 a small minority did. Where did anti-science come from?

During the Middle Ages, the Reformation and the Enlightenment, reason was in the ascendant, but in the 19th century, irrationalism made a surprising comeback. This course will examine the roots of modern irrationalism, focusing on occultism, pseudo-science and fundamentalism, the ambivalent influence of Romanticism, and the importance of reactionary political philosophies.

LECTURE TITLES
1. Subterranean currents: the lure of the irrational in a secularising age.
2. Romanticism: between reaction and revolt.
3. Fantasies of hidden knowledge: the 19th century occult revival.
4. Irrational politics: the conspiracy theory of society and totalitarianism.
5. Aquarius: the New Age in the 20th century and after.

Recommended reading
 Thomas, K. Religion and the Decline of Magic. London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1971.
 Schenck, H.G. The Mind of the European Romantics. London, Constable, 1966 (also available in Oxford Paperbacks).
 Cohn, N. Warrant for Genocide. NY, Harper & Row, 1969.
 Webb, J. The Occult Establishment. London, Open Court Publishing, 1976