Jean-Claude Bourdin
jclbourdin@gmail.com; Orcid: 0009-0001-2488-0319.
“Communism of spirits”. Hölderlin with Saint Paul
Abstract: The intention of this article is to identify what the short text attributed to Hölderlin might evoke in relation to the enigmatic title, which is not his own, “Communism of the spirits”. It will highlight Hölderlin’s ideas on community and show that the ‘communist’ passages in his writings are paraphrases of St Paul. Hölderlin argues that community is what we lack. His conception of community is based on an ontology of being as One and All immanent to individuals. It is assumed that the author intended the title as a warning to communists: don’t wait for communism to establish equality and union, because there can be no spiritual communism without community.
Keyword: Communism; Community; Saint Paul; Spirits; Totality.