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Political Miseries of Vitalism: Mystification of Violence and Poeticization of War

Abstract:

In this paper, we outline a critical reflection on a question that was decisive in the tragic evolution of Europe in the first decades of the 20th century. We refer to the disastrous role played by certain philosophies—vitalist and neoromantic—in the development of the terrible historical events that ensued. We will analyze how a whole set of ideas was consolidated in certain intellectual universes that had to do with the idealization of a dangerous and combative life, mystification of warriors, romanticization of violence, and even poetization of war.