Nostalgia for the Absolute

In these lectures, Steiner argues that in the cultural vacuum left by the decay of religion, the religious urge, a "nostalgia for the absolute" continue to fuel our zest for what amount to modern mythologies (Freud, Marx, and--strangely--Levi-Strauss' structural anthropology) along with new age fads. Given the format, it's hard to fault him too much for some lax argumentation and sensationalist conclusions. Yet despite some interesting observations and rhetorically persuasive narratives about how all these things fit together, the thesis suffers from too many hasty generalizations and simplistic analogies.

The analysis of Marx is rather superficial and makes no effort to distinguish between Marx and Marxism; the chapter on Freud involves show more some rather weak arguments concerning the role played by mythology in the genesis and support of Freud's ideas; and the chapter on Levi-Strauss is both bewildering for its inclusion at all, and also doesn't even remotely establish Steiner's claim that structural anthropology constitutes a total mythology (in the sense in which he proposes this thesis). show less

Interesante obra post-religiosa que curiosamente vuelve a caer en los errores que denuncia, no restándole esto razón a su crítica.