“Cosmic Radiance”: C.G. Jung, L. Klages, and Lebensphilosophie

Abstract

The German philosopher Ludwig Klages and the Swiss psychologist C.G. Jung shared a few important trajectories of research. For some, like Karl Jaspers, they were the “masters” of symbol-interpretation at their time. Surprisingly, these correspondences have scarcely been explored thus far, partly due to Klages’s relative oblivion in contemporary academic literature. This paper aims at introducing them, by looking at a few primary points of proximity and distance between these thinkers, against the background of the encounter between Lebensphilosophie and psychology. The paper will present Jung’s critical views around Klages’s most famous work, The Spirit as the Adversary of the Soul, and Klages’s own skepticism around psychoanalytic-oriented theories. The paper will then examine the place of the “irrational” in both thinkers and their contribution to the concept of “cosmogonic eros”, whilst taking into account the most prominent elements of difference between their views.