Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Date of Degree
6-2026
Document Type
Doctoral Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Program
Comparative Literature
Advisor
Richard Wolin
Committee Members
Caroline Rupprecht
Jerry Carlson
Subject Categories
Christianity | Comparative Literature | Comparative Politics | Ethics and Political Philosophy | Ethics in Religion | French and Francophone Language and Literature | German Language and Literature | Hindu Studies | History of Religions of Eastern Origins | Intellectual History | Islamic World and Near East History | Italian Literature | Medieval History | Metaphysics | Religion Law | Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion
Keywords
rené guénon, primordial tradition, metapolitics, crisis of modernity, metaphysics, decadence, ethical substitution, theocracy, antimodern, esoterism
Abstract
Heralded by some as one of the greatest intellectuals of the 20th century, French metaphysician René Guénon (1886-1951) is also the controversial father of Primordial Tradition, a metaphysics designed to remedy the decline of Western civilization. Guénon viewed the West in the grip of a prolonged cycle of degeneration. He sought to implement a pseudo-authoritarian spiritual reset that required a total rejection of its Western intellectual heritage and an embrace of Eastern doctrines.
Focusing on his landmark book The Crisis of the Modern World (1927), the dissertation examines how Guénon implemented his controversial reset. After outlining the religious, cultural, and political framework of Tradition in Chapter 1, Chapter 2 traces Guénon’s occultist roots and intellectual influences, notably the enduring legacy of the Martinist Order and Thomistic currents, which enabled him to develop a metahistory that reveals the manifestations of a delusional narrative of progress. Chapter 3 explores the concept of the metapolitical, intended to replace a flawed Judeo-Christian morality, grown overly materialist, sentimental, and individualistic, with Hindu doctrines. Guénon justifies this substitution by exposing the subversive underground forces that contribute to Western moral and intellectual decadence. Fusing metahistory and metapolitics, Chapter 4 analyzes each chapter of Crisis to show how Guénon carried out his metaphysical “Guénonian Revolution.” The chapter traces the origins of this Revolution as a response to a faulty mindset preventing a spiritual reset. Guénon argues that restoration to a transcendent vocation becomes possible only after the inevitable passage through the Kali Yuga and under the metapolitical influence of a prepared elite.
The Conclusion underscores Guénon’s continued relevance in today’s world, where the narrative of decline has resurfaced. Despite the impracticality of Tradition, Guénon’s successors have adapted his metapolitical framework to develop alternative models of ethical substitution. Far from weakening Guénon’s position, these variations radicalized his conception of history, time, space, and Being, collectively consolidating an elitist, anti-Enlightenment, anti-democratic, and anti-humanist front. This front has since strengthened far-right metapolitical ideologies, further exacerbating the erosion of democratic norms worldwide.
Recommended Citation
Colier, Frederic, "Beyond the Veil of Modernity: René Guénon, Prophet of the Metapolitical Imaginary" (2026). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/6771
Included in
Christianity Commons, Comparative Literature Commons, Comparative Politics Commons, Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons, Ethics in Religion Commons, French and Francophone Language and Literature Commons, German Language and Literature Commons, Hindu Studies Commons, History of Religions of Eastern Origins Commons, Intellectual History Commons, Islamic World and Near East History Commons, Italian Literature Commons, Medieval History Commons, Metaphysics Commons, Religion Law Commons, Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons
