John Carroll (born 1944) is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at

La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora. The university was established in 1964, becoming the third university in the state of Victoria an ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia.

Work

John Carroll is the author of ''Puritan, Paranoid, Remissive'', ''Guilt'', ''Ego and Soul'', ''Humanism: The Rebirth and Wreck of Western Culture'', and ''Intruders In The Bush: The Australian Quest For Identity''. His Cambridge doctoral dissertation on epistemological anarchistic and anti-rationalist themes in Max Stirner, Nietzsche and Dostoyevsky was published as ''Breakout from the Crystal Palace'' (1974). It was supervised by

George Steiner Francis George Steiner, FBA (April 23, 1929 – February 3, 2020) was a Franco-American literary critic, essayist, philosopher, novelist, and educator. He wrote extensively about the relationship between language, literature and society, and the ...

. ''Puritan, Paranoid, Remissive'' (1977) echoed and developed upon themes in

Philip Rieff Philip Rieff (December 15, 1922 – July 1, 2006) was an American sociologist and cultural critic, who taught sociology at the University of Pennsylvania from 1961 until 1992. He was the author of a number of books on Sigmund Freud and his legacy, ...

's ''Triumph of the Therapeutic: Uses of Faith after Freud'' (1966). ''Humanism'' (1993; 2010) is Carroll's most ambitious work to date. Predicated on the view that Western high culture is in a declining if not nihilistic mode, ''Humanism'' traces this decline to an epistemic tyranny of reason and its subjection of other forms of knowing and understanding being. Carroll's often bleak diagnosis is primarily based on unique readings of canonic theological, philosophical and artistic texts including those by

Sophocles Sophocles (; grc, Σοφοκλῆς, , Sophoklễs; 497/6 – winter 406/5 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. is one of three ancient Greek tragedians, at least one of whose plays has survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or co ...

Calvin Calvin may refer to: Names * Calvin (given name) ** Particularly Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States * Calvin (surname) ** Particularly John Calvin, theologian Places In the United States * Calvin, Arkansas, a hamlet * Calvi ...

Holbein Hans Holbein may refer to: * Hans Holbein the Elder Hans Holbein the Elder ( , ; german: Hans Holbein der Ältere; – 1524) was a German painter. Life Holbein was born in free imperial city of Augsburg (Germany), and died in Issenheim, Alsa ...

Donatello Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi ( – 13 December 1466), better known as Donatello ( ), was a Republic of Florence, Florentine sculptor of the Renaissance period. Born in Republic of Florence, Florence, he studied classical sculpture and use ...

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...

Poussin Nicolas Poussin (, , ; June 1594 – 19 November 1665) was the leading painter of the classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and mythological subjects painted for ...

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

and

John Ford John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), known professionally as John Ford, was an American film director and naval officer. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers of his generation. He ...

. The heart of the book's analysis is highly indebted to

Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, Prose poetry, prose poet, cultural critic, Philology, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philo ...

's critique of "Socratic" culture in ''

The Birth of Tragedy ''The Birth of Tragedy Out of the Spirit of Music'' (german: Die Geburt der Tragödie aus dem Geiste der Musik) is a 1872 work of dramatic theory by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. It was reissued in 1886 as ''The Birth of Tragedy, Or ...

''. ''Terror: a Meditation on the Meaning of September 11'' (2004) is an application of many of the themes in the former work. In ''The Western Dreaming'' and ''The Existential Jesus'', Carroll rereads Gospel narratives and the ontology of Christ through a Heideggerian and non-theistic lens. ''Greek Pilgrimage'' is an unabashedly hellenophilic meditation on the nature of ancient Greek aesthetics and culture and what remains of the archaeological sites themselves. His latest book, ''Land of the Golden Cities'', on the sources of Australia's current prosperity, was published by Connor Court in 2017. A book of essays about his work, ''Metaphysical Sociology: On the Work of John Carroll'', edited by Sara James, was published by Routledge in 2018. It includes Carroll's response to the contributions.

Bibliography

Books

* * * ''Sceptical sociology''. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. 1980 * * * ''Shutdown: The failure of economic rationalism and how to rescue Australia'', edited by John Carroll and

Robert Manne Robert Michael Manne (born 31 October 1947) is an Emeritus Professor of politics and Vice-Chancellor's Fellow at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. He is a leading Australian public intellectual. Background Robert Manne was born in Melbo ...

. Melbourne: Text. 1992. * ''Humanism: The wreck of Western culture''. London: Fontana. 1993. * ''Ego and soul: The modern West in search of meaning''. Pymble, NSW: HarperCollins. 1998. * ''The Western dreaming: The Western world is dying for want of a story''. Pymble, NSW: HarperCollins. 2001. * ''Terror: A meditation on the meaning of September 11''. Carlton North: Scribe. 2002. * ''The wreck of Western culture: Humanism revisited''. Carlton North: Scribe. 2004. (A revised version of ''Humanism: The wreck of Western culture''.) * ''The existential Jesus''. Carlton North: Scribe. 2007. * ''Greek pilgrimage: In search of the foundations of the West''. Carlton North: Scribe. 2007. * ''Land of the golden cities: Australia's exceptional prosperity & the culture that made it''. Redlands Bay, Qld: Connor Court, 2017. * ''On Guilt: The Force Shaping Character, History, and Culture''. London: Routledge, 2020.

Articles

* * * *

References

External links

John Carroll's website
*Carroll on Philip Rief

*Carroll discusses the re-release of Humanism in 200

*Carroll discussing The Existential Jesu

*Review of Existential Jesu

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carroll, John 1944 births Living people Australian non-fiction writers La Trobe University faculty Quadrant (magazine) people Australian sociologists