Abstract

The thesis of this dissertation is that Ernst Junger's work is an exemplary testimony of the culminating stage of the modern age. The author agrees with Heidegger in that Junger's thought brings the modern project to its consummation in the light of Nietzsche's metaphysics of the Will to Power. Here the author contends, however, that Junger's thought does not merely re-think Nietzsche's philosophy but stands on a different plane because it is "metaphysical", in the precise sense that it has awakened from the positivistic slumber. The author's intention is not to give a thorough interpretation of Junger's confrontation with the modern age, but to provide the necessary basis for such a task by discussing the "blueprint" of the age drawn in Junger's early works . ;The First Part , accounts for Junger's critique of positivism and vindication of metaphysical thought. The Second Part , gives an analysis of Junger's description of, and position with respect to, the new historical reality, i.e. the world of the worker. ;Chapter One discusses the concepts of magical realism and stereoscopic sight, and the metaphors of the "loop" and the "picture-puzzle". ;Chapter Two deals with the metaphysics of the archetype by means of an interpretation of Typus, Name, Gestalt. ;Chapter Three gives an interpretation of the historical archetype as the principle of the dramatic unity of man, space, and time. ;Chapter Four analyzes "Die totale Mobilmachung" and Der Arbeiter and identifies the key to the dramatic unity of the Age of the Worker in the organic construction, in which man is mobilized as type and nature is mobilized through technology. ;Chapter Five contains an analysis of the position of "heroic realism" which for the early Junger corresponds to the description of the domination of the archetype of the worker and culminates in the identification of Ethos and Technology