''Revolt Against the Modern World'' () is a book by
Julius Evola
Giulio Cesare Andrea "Julius" Evola (; 19 May 1898 – 11 June 1974) was an Italian far-right philosopher and writer. Evola regarded his values as Traditionalist conservatism, traditionalist, Aristocracy, aristocratic, War, martial and Empire, im ...
, first published in Italy in 1934. Described as Evola's most influential work, it is an elucidation of his
Traditionalist world view. The first part of the book deals with the concepts of the Traditional world; its knowledge of the bridge between the earthly and the
transcendent worlds. The second part deals with the
modern world
The modern era or the modern period is considered the current historical period of human history. It was originally applied to the history of Europe and Western history for events that came after the Middle Ages, often from around the year 1500 ...
, contrasting its characteristics with those of traditional societies: from politics and institutions to views on life and death. Evola denounces the regressive aspects of modern civilisation, and instead argues for a traditionalist society.
''Rivolta contro il mondo moderno'' was published in
Milan
Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
by
Hoepli Hoepli may refer to:
Asteroids
* 8111 Hoepli
Companies
*Hoepli Editore
Hoepli Editore is an Italian publishing house and bookstore based in Milan founded in 1870 by Swiss-Italian bookseller Ulrico Hoepli. Born in 1847 in the village of Tuttwi ...
in 1934. A revised and augmented edition was published in 1969. Translated into English by Guido Stucco (from the 1969 edition), it was published by
Inner Traditions
Interior may refer to:
Arts and media
* ''Interior'' (Degas) (also known as ''The Rape''), painting by Edgar Degas
* ''Interior'' (play), 1895 play by Belgian playwright Maurice Maeterlinck
* ''The Interior'' (novel), by Lisa See
* Interior de ...
. It has also been translated into German, Spanish, French, Serbian and Hungarian. The book influenced
Mircea Eliade
Mircea Eliade (; – April 22, 1986) was a Romanian History of religion, historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. One of the most influential scholars of religion of the 20th century and in ...
and other thinkers in the Traditionalist school, as well as the European ''
Nouvelle Droite
The ''Nouvelle Droite'' (, ), sometimes shortened to the initialism ND, is a far-right politics, far-right political movement which emerged in France during the late 1960s. The ''Nouvelle Droite'' is the origin of the wider European New Right ( ...
''.
Contents
''Revolt Against the Modern World'' is divided into two parts: "The World of Tradition" and "Genesis and the Face of the Modern World".
The first part, "The World of Tradition", is a comparative study of the doctrines of traditional civilizations where Evola indicates that the fundamental principles of the life of traditional man are manifested in the doctrine of two natures, the existence of a physical order and a
metaphysical
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of h ...
one. It follows the indication of the way in which the man of the tradition conceives
law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...
,
war
War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...
,
property
Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, re ...
, relations between the sexes,
immortality
Immortality is the concept of eternal life. Some species possess "biological immortality" due to an apparent lack of the Hayflick limit.
From at least the time of the Ancient Mesopotamian religion, ancient Mesopotamians, there has been a con ...
, and
race. The second part instead contains an interpretation of history on a traditional basis: it starts from the origins of man to arrive at the modern concept of evolution in the
Darwinian
''Darwinism'' is a term used to describe a theory of biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others. The theory states that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural sele ...
sense which, according to tradition, is considered a regress, an
involution
Involution may refer to: Mathematics
* Involution (mathematics), a function that is its own inverse
* Involution algebra, a *-algebra: a type of algebraic structure
* Involute, a construction in the differential geometry of curves
* Exponentiati ...
.
Evola begins the second chapter of ''Revolt Against the Modern World'' stating that the traditional world is never perfectly realized in history. According to Evola, the key to tradition and what he supposes was the defining feature of the traditional world, was the experiential knowledge of the two natures: high and low, being and becoming, supernatural and natural. Then, Evola leads to promote the beneficial qualities of historical societies that embodied tradition: "The traditional world knew divine kingship. It knew the bridge between the two worlds, namely, initiation; it knew the two great ways of approaching the transcendent, namely, heroic action and contemplation. It knew the moral foundation, namely, the traditional law and the caste system; and it knew the political earthly symbol, namely, the empire."
From this, Evola concludes that the traditional world had no defining ethics so therefore, it had no theory of any kind. Without theory, there was no learning of such theory and without learning, no progress. Evola explains how any progress or change from these traditional societies is involution rather than evolution, the study of history is only the study of decay. Evola appreciates how due to this, in traditional societies there was only adherence to the
primordialism
Primordialism is the idea that nations or ethnic identities are fixed, natural, and ancient.Jack Hayward, Brian Barry, Archie Brown (2003) p 330 Primordialists argue that each individual has a single inborn ethnic identity independent of historica ...
, a single ethnic identity, which he believes has been lost due to modernity.
Once Evola characterizes traditional societies, he proceeds to dive into his
metaphysical
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of h ...
views of
gender role
A gender role, or sex role, is a social norm deemed appropriate or desirable for individuals based on their gender or sex.
Gender roles are usually centered on conceptions of masculinity and femininity. The specifics regarding these gendered ...
s. As Evola divides the universe between above and below, he relates this to the
supernatural
Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...
and the natural. According to Evola,
women
A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl.
Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional u ...
are
natural
Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the laws, elements and phenomena of the physical world, including life. Although humans are part ...
and
men
A man is an adult male human. Before adulthood, a male child or adolescent is referred to as a boy.
Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromosome from the fa ...
are supernatural. The
male
Male (Planet symbols, symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or Egg cell, ovum, in the process of fertilisation. A male organism cannot sexual repro ...
is
self-subsistent while the
female
An organism's sex is female ( symbol: ♀) if it produces the ovum (egg cell), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete (sperm cell) during sexual reproduction.
A female has larger gametes than a male. Females and ...
is
dependent
A dependant (US spelling: dependent) is a person who relies on another as a primary source of income and usually assistance with activities of daily living
Activities of daily living (ADLs) is a term used in healthcare to refer to an individ ...
. In Evola's worldview, the role of the
female
An organism's sex is female ( symbol: ♀) if it produces the ovum (egg cell), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete (sperm cell) during sexual reproduction.
A female has larger gametes than a male. Females and ...
is to be a
mother
A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of ges ...
and a
lover, while the
male's sole role is in
war
War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...
. Evola grounds these views on gender roles by relating them to
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...
and
Taoism
Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ' ...
in particular.
[R. Ben-Ghiat, M. Fuller. ''Italian Colonialism''. Springer, 2016. p. 149]
References
Bibliography
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Further reading
* Paul Furlong
''The Social and Political Thought of Julius Evola'' London: Routledge, 2011.
{{Authority control
1934 non-fiction books
Books by Julius Evola
Books in political philosophy
Traditionalist School
Italian non-fiction books