Donoso Cortes: Cassandra of Age

by R.A. Herrera

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802808743
• ISBN13: 9780802808745
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

An Appropriately Titled Book.

"An apocalyptic vision that has become a good diagnosis of our own time." (cover blurb) Cassandra was a legendary prophetess from ancient Greek fable cursed by the gods to utter true and unerring prophecy that was never listened to or taken into serious account. Such a predicament aptly describes the subject of this very short intellectual biography, Juan Donoso Cortes. The author, R. A. Herrera, is a professor of philosophy at Seton Hall University and an authority on Spanish themes in literature. Herrera sheds some light onto this obscure 19th century Spanish ultra-conservative and counter-revolutionary intellectual. Donoso Cortes was a Spaniard of noble birth who studied at Salamanca at a very young age before his subsequent career as a journalist, diplomat and court-adviser. In his youth he imbibed ideas from the radical French revolutionaries and romantics who were very popular amongst Europe's educated elite. Later on, however, Donoso began to espouse ideas contrary to his youthful liberal inclinations. Donoso's later literary influences were Scripture, Roman Catholic dogma and, in particular, the works of St. Augustine such as _The City of God_. Perhaps Donoso took Augustine's allegory of a "Kingdom of Man" contending with the "Kingdom of God" too literally, as Herrera notes. Donoso became a very devout Catholic in his later years, in some respects resembling a Saint. He noted the various trends that he saw taking hold of European civilization and what has become its almost totally irreversible trend toward liberalism and socialism in the political sphere equaled by deism, agnosticism and atheism in the religious sphere. What particularly irked Donoso, as Herrera repeatedly underscores, was democracy's idolatrous worship of "freedom of speech" and of constant discussion and speculation upon ideas, postulates and theories that by their very nature cannot establish absolute truth-and often at best only serve to define the tyranny of the 51 percent. Donoso argues for the authority of the Church to establish and identify without dispute certain dogmas about life and the nature of reality and put them beyond human discussion. He is also in favor of a strong absolute monarchial government that can protect the Church and the rest of the nation from subversive influences. The main vehicle of subversion is of course the press and its army of propagandist editors and journalists. Many of the radical, anti-Christian social changes have been whipped up by demagogues and rabble rousers inflaming the ignorant masses against properly established authority for the political ends of the demagogues (and needless to say, of those funding them). Donoso believes that a strong dictatorial government is necessary to put people in their place and preserve tradition and order in society. This puts him at the polar opposite of the entire liberal-democratic bourgeoisie ideology with its emphasis on abstract "rights" and constitutional government.

Donoso Cortes: Right-Wing Reactionary and Political Prophet

~Donoso Cortes: Cassandra of the Age~ is an intriguing political biography of a reactionary Spanish conservative who opposed the radicalism fomented by the French Revolution. Don Juan Donoso Cortes was a remarkable nineteenth century Spanish statesmen and Catholic traditionalist. In his formative years Cortes even flirted with liberalism only to react strongly against it. Cortes embodies Real-Politik and shows influence from St. Augustine, Hobbes and Machiavelli. Born shortly after the tumultuous upheavals wrought by the French Revolution, Cortes was eerily prophetic and saw a dark future of socialism, mass politics, and the rise of the herd. In his country, there was a deep divide between defenders of the monarchy (absolutist, clerical, conservative, and traditionalist) and liberals of varying shades who advocated embracing elements of the 1791 Revolution. For Cortes, liberalism was the nebulous creature paving the way for socialism and itself was an incubator for socialism, rationalism and democracy (the deification of the masses). He found the idealized abstractions of the French Revolution, that is "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity," to be noxious and repugnant for they made crude caricatures of Christian principles. In promising unlimited freedom, the Revolution only brought strife, tyranny, and bloodletting. Cortes had no whimsical views about the innate goodness of mankind like Rousseau. His worldview accounted for original sin and man's depravity. Thus, Cortes recognized that when people lose their religious moorings, they lose their public virtue as well. When this occurs, Cortes held that dictatorship must fortify established authority, otherwise revolution or anarchy will ensue. For Cortes, dictatorship was a necessary corrective to thwart chaos. Cortes was no totalitarian, however, and recognized that the revolutionary malaise was destroying the intermediary associations between the individual and state. It was destroying social bonds, traditional hierarchy and leading to the creation of hyper-atomized and individuals corrupted by countless -isms (i.e. atheism, rationalism, materialism, and socialism.) Moreover, Cortes was distraught by the moral corruption wrought by these pernicious ideologies, which he characterized as a demonic theology. Yet he had a peculiar awe for revolutionary adherents, particularly Proudhon, because of their fervor, commitment and dedication to their cause. Cortes was prophetic in predicting a fusion of pan-Slavic nationalism with socialism, (which was unleashed by the Bolsheviks.) He obviously saw the signs. The seeds of discontent were planted in Russia by the nihilism of 19th century Russian intellectuals and by revolutionary agitation from abroad. Fascism too was wrought out by the mass politics and itself was a heir to the French Revolution to which even Hitler acknowledged. Cortes was committed to a movement of Christian counterrevolution and renewal. He was overwhelmed by a sense of pessimism.

Donoso Cortes: Apocalyptic Political Prophet.

_Donoso Cortes: Cassandra of the Age_ is an excellent biography of the nineteenth century Spanish political and theological thinker Donoso Cortes. Donoso Cortes is famous for his reactionary beliefs concerning the French Revolution and the subsequent ideologies inspired by it and as a political prophet of the coming crises of his age. From his beginnings as a moderate liberal intellectual and journalist in early nineteenth century Spain, Donoso turned to the traditions of the Catholic Church and came to regard his age as afflicted with a loss of center due to the denial of tradition and the established order. Like other Catholic traditionalist counter-revolutionaries such as Joseph de Maistre and Bonald of his time, Donoso believed his age was headed for disaster in its denial of God and his rightful place among men as well as that revealed tradition of God in society so that it could only be saved through outright divine intervention. Unlike the liberals of his time, Donoso understood man to be rooted in sin and capable of radical evil due to his fall from grace. For Donoso, humanity would be entirely irredeemable were it not for the constraints imposed upon him from revealed tradition and the saving grace of Christ. In fact, Donoso's prophecies concerning his age were so dark and pessimistic that many have failed to see any hope for mankind at all in them short of a direct divine intervention. Donoso served as both a journalist and friend to the Queen Maria Cristina of Spain as well as a diplomat to both Berlin and Prussia and later to France. He had various relationships with certain central political figures of his time including the emperor Napoleon III as well as the pope. Donoso predicted the coming bloodshed in Europe, the nationalist and socialist revolutions in the next century, as well as making predictions for an innate saving power residing in the people and traditions of Russia and its civilization. It is the importance of these darkened predictions to the modern age that have made Donoso a figure who was revived in more recent times by various conservative political writers, among them the jurist and Third Reich intellectual Carl Schmitt. Donoso's early writings were written from the perspective of a moderate liberal and emphasized the role of intellect in political affairs. Later Donoso would take a sharper turn towards reaction rejecting the ideals of the revolution, and in his most famous work _Catholicism, Liberalism, and Socialism_ would outline the major differences between these political ideologies. For Donoso, liberalism represented a sliding point between the traditional order which consisted of the Catholic Church and the monarchy and the extremes of socialism and nihlism. Donoso respected socialism for having its own "demonic theology" and admired (though he sharply criticized) the famous anarchist philosopher Joseph Proudhon. Donoso observed the move away from God through pantheism (represented by democ