FROM A KNIGHT TO A MASS WORKER: THE DEVELOPMENT OF ERNST JÜNGER’S VIEW OF THE FIGHTING INDIVIDUAL Cover Image

FROM A KNIGHT TO A MASS WORKER: THE DEVELOPMENT OF ERNST JÜNGER’S VIEW OF THE FIGHTING INDIVIDUAL
FROM A KNIGHT TO A MASS WORKER: THE DEVELOPMENT OF ERNST JÜNGER’S VIEW OF THE FIGHTING INDIVIDUAL

Author(s): Peter Šajda
Subject(s): Metaphysics, Political Philosophy, Social Philosophy
Published by: Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai
Keywords: conflict; enemy; metaphysical community; knight; worker;

Summary/Abstract: In the article I first examine Ernst Jünger’s thematically structured memoir The Fight as Inner Experience in which he depicts the individual soldier as a committed knightly fighter who is willing to sacrifice his life for an idea. Subsequently I analyze Jünger’s treatise Total Mobilization in which a largely different picture of the fighting individual emerges: a conformist member of the working mass who performs unquestioningly tasks assigned to him by the collective. I explain the reasons for “the victory” of the worker over the knight and highlight important shifts in Jünger’s thinking as well as its ambiguities.

  • Issue Year: 67/2022
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 101-116
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: English