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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Appearance and the formation of formless masses in the works of Heraclitus and Parmenides

Appearance and the formation of formless masses in the works of Heraclitus and Parmenides

Roolvink, James Paul

Paperback

PhilosophyGeneral Sociology

ISBN13: 9798186539155
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Jul 9 2026
Pages: 284
Weight: 0.76
Height: 0.71 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
The books in the 'Ad hominem series' are characterised by the fact that they are accessible to both laypeople and seasoned psychoanalysts, anthropologists, philosophers and theologians. This is possible because the language is simple and represents an almost immediate, spontaneous expression of a train of thought. The author's train of thought unfolds almost literally before your eyes. This is possible because the authors have spent years reflecting deeply on certain subjects.

The notion of 'the formation of the masses' (societal groupthink) as an explanation for totalitarian tendencies in our society, as opposed to an explanation based on conspiracies, has managed to gain ground in parts of the public debate in recent years. Moreover, supporters of this 'school' often fail to realise that ancient thinkers had already reflected on mass formation thousands of years ago, and in a far more precise and subtle manner.

One such thinker is Heraclitus, and the other is Parmenides. Both demonstrate that when pure awareness of the divine - precedes our normal impure (moral) self-awareness - is lacking, a person becomes an 'impersonal mass individual' who, literally arising from the consciousness of the impersonal mass, is present within themselves as an impersonal self. The individual self of self-awareness is then impersonally everyone and no one. In such a state, one cannot be held accountable, for everyone is a 'selfless' - an impersonal self - nobody and no one is required to take responsibility.

Heraclitus does not describe this 'mass man' primarily as immoral, but primarily as impure/unclean; thus, this is not a matter of moral accountability towards one's fellow human beings. 'Pure' and 'impure' are terms that belong to a sacred dimension, just as virtues such as courage do. The sacred has been almost entirely forgotten in our present age, which is why being accountable to something sacred sounds utterly ridiculous. This forgetfulness is due to the fact that the sacred is on the level of 'pre-reflective reflecting self-awareness'. A logical contradiction for the reflecting normal self-awarness! Forgetfulness that can be provoked to remebering by stating that smoking does not make you unhealthy, but if your are unhealhty you will start smoking.

It is Parmenides who shows how a human being can become a 'mass man'. In doing so, he takes us through how illusion/appearance arises and what illusion has to do with logic and science. What will be discovered in this book about Parmenides will disrupt and inspire the whole of current thinking about his divine poem. You will be awestruck and fascinated. We must not turn a blind eye to the fact that Parmenides was a healer. Could you heal a 'mass man' of his impersonal self?

The book concludes with a number of interviews on 'The Paradox in the Theory of Mass Formation' (James Roolvink, published by Aspekt 2022) and two articles that provide a '(change) manager' with very concrete tools to (preventively) overcome group-think (mass formation within organisations). This part has been added after the original version was published.

This book has been translated from Dutch into English with the translation machine DeepL.

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