cogg-ga,
Thanks for an interesting question.
I listened to the link you provided, and the excerpt clearly (to my
ear) attributes the sentiment to Paul Tillich, a philosopher whose
works I read a bit of many years ago.
Tillich was a well-known Christian theologian in the first half of the
20th century. You can get a quick overview of his life and works
here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Tillich
Paul Johannes Tillich (August 20, 1886 ? October 22, 1965) was a
German-American theologian and Christian existentialist philosopher.
Tillich was, along with contemporary Karl Barth, one of the more
influential Protestant theologians of the twentieth century.
Most brief descriptions of Tillich's works focus on his religious philosophy.
But Tillich also had strong socialist leanings, and had a lot to say
about the dehumanizing influences of modern society, and particularly
the institutions of capitalism. Chris Hedges was undoubtedly
referring to this aspect of Tillich's work, although he appears to
have been paraphrasing, rather than directly quoting, Tillich.
Probably the Tillich essay that is most on point to the sentiment of
institutions being inherently demonic is his seminal (though not very
well-known) essay, "The Person in a Technical Society".
This essay is not freely available online, but I have access to it
through a subscription database. Here are some pertinent excerpts:
===============
Christian Faith and Social Action: A Symposium
John A. Hutchison
Scribner, 1953
[this book contains Tillich's essay]
The Person in a Technical Society
PAUL TILLICH
p 137
VII. CONFORMITY VERSUS MAN
...Western technical society has produced methods of adjusting persons
to its demands in production and consumption which are less brutal,
but in the long run, more effective than totalitarian suppression.
They depersonalize not by commanding but by providing, providing,
namely, what makes individual creativity superfluous. If one looks
around at the methods which produce conformity one is astonished that
still enough individual creativity is left even to produce these
refined methods. One discovers that man's spiritual life has a
tremendous power of resistance against a reduction to prescribed
patterns of behavior. But one also sees that this resistance is in a
great danger of being worn down by the ways in which adjustment is
forced upon him in the industrial society. It starts with the
education of "adjustment" which produces conformity just by allowing
for more spontaneity of the child than any pre-industrial
civilization.
...throughout his whole life, other powerful means of adjustment are
working upon the person in the technical society; the newspapers which
choose the facts worth reporting and suggest their interpretation, the
radio programs which eliminate non-conformist contents and
interpreters, television which replaces the visual imagination by
selected pictorial presentations, the movie which for commercial and
censorship reasons has to maintain in most of its productions a
conscious mediocrity, adjusting itself to the adjusted taste of the
masses, the patterns of advertisement which permeate all other means
of public communication, and have an inescapable omnipresence.
...The technical development is irreversible and adjustment is
necessary in every society, especially in a mass society. The person
as a person can preserve himself only by a partial nonparticipation in
the objectifying structures of technical society. But he can withdraw
even partially only if he has a place to which to withdraw.
...It is the task of the Church, especially of its theology, to
describe the place of withdrawal, mainly the "religious reservation."
It is the task of active groups within and on the boundary line of the
Church to show the possibilities of attack, to participate in it
wherever it is made and to be ready to lead it if necessary.
...Christian action must find a way to save the person in the industrial society.
===============
I think you can clearly see that the sentiment is there, if not the
precise phrase that institutions are, at the least, inherently
dehumanizing, though Hedges preferred the slightly more sensational
term 'demonic'.
Again, though, there is no evidence that Tillich every actually
uttered the precise phrase "institutions are inherently demonic" and
frankly, it doesn't sound much like something he would have said. He
was wordier than that!
Another (unfortunately offline) work worth mentioning is this more recent essay:
Paul Tillich on the Institutions of Capitalism
Betsy Jane Clary
Review of Social Economy, Vol. 52, 1994
in which the author discusses Tillich's views on the institutions of
capitalism at some length. You may want to ask a local librarian to
retrieve a copy of this article for you.
I trust this information fully answers your question.
However, please don't rate this answer until you have everything you
need. If you would like any additional information, just post a
Request for Clarification to let me know how I can assist you further,
and I'm at your service.
All the best,
pafalafa-ga
search strategy -- From listening to the link, I was able to discern
the reference to Tillich. I then searched for his views on
institutions in a variety of databases. |
Clarification of Answer by
pafalafa-ga
on
24 Feb 2006 11:41 PST
cogg-ga,
Thanks for getting back to me, and for letting my know that my initial
answer is half good (and half not!).
First off...not to worry. If you are unhappy with an answer, you get
your money back. It's that simple.
Secondly, I am able to search through quite a large volume of
Tillich's works, and I simply have not found any sort of direct
statement along the lines of "all institutions are demonic".
You are quite right, though, in that 'demonic' was a well-used term by
Tillich. Here a few excerps that get close, anyway, to the
potentially demonic nature of institutions of all types:
=====
Theology of Peace
Paul Tillich
...When Augustine equates the Kingdom of God with the church and the
Kingdom of Satan with the great world empires, he is partly right and
partly wrong. He is right in asserting that in principle the church
is the representative of the Kingdom of God; he is wrong in
overlooking the fact...that the demonic powers can penetrate into the
church itself, both in its doctrine and institutions. He is right to
the extent in which he emphasizes the demonic element in every
political structure of power...
...Salvation is related to individuals as well as to groups...to
personalities as well as to institutions...the salvation of groups and
institutions is of special importance. It means that the demonic
perversion and destruction of groups and institutions is overcome...
The Essential Tillich
Paul Tillich
...Has the Church the task and the power to attack and to transform
the spirit of industrial society?...In its prophetic role the Church
is the guardian who reveals dynamic structures in society and
undercuts their demonic power by revealing them, even within the
Church itself...
=====
These are really as close I have come, thus far, to finding a pithy
statement by Tillich on 'insitutions', broadly cast, and their
tendency towards the demonic.
Do these quotes better suit your needs?
Please let me know your reaction to this material, and let me know, as
well, whether you would like additional materials/quotes at this
point.
By the way, I also searched through Chris Hedges book and many of the
articles he's written. Though there is mention of Tillich in a number
of areas, there is nothing that even approximates the "insititutions
are demonic" phrase he used in his NPR interview.
And lastly, as I said above, if you feel a refund is in order, let me
know that as well, and I will ask the editors to have my answer
removed.
Thanks,
pafalafa-ga
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