Realidade, experiência, símbolo e a representação na filosofia política de Eric Voegelin

Abstract

This dissertation analyzes the theory of political representation in Eric Voegelin, articulating the concepts of concrete reality, symbolic experience, and transcendence that he presented as antidotes to the spiritual crisis derived from modernity. It is argued that the degradation of modern conceptions of politics stems from the rupture with the transcendent, expressed in Gnosticism and positivism, which reduce political science to immanentist methodologies. Voegelin proposes the restoration of the classical "episteme politike," where representation is understood in three strata (elementary, existential, and transcendental), mediated by the authentic symbol. This research demonstrates that the reconnection with the symbolic dimension – expressed in societies' self-interpretation as a cosmion – is fundamental to re-establishing a legitimate political order. It is concluded that representation, in its transcendental form, reconciles the human with the divine, overcoming totalizing ideologies through a philosophical education that rescues metaphysics, centered on the experience of the sacred.