Mathilde Ludendorff - Philosophy and Science

Philosophy and Science

Her 1921 work Triumph des Unsterblichkeitwillens (Triumph of the Will for Immortality) examined the desire in humans for immortality and in doing so attempted a synthesis of philosophy and science which would underpin much of her later work. This was the case in her The Origin and Nature of the Soul, a book in three volumes: History of Creation, which traces the soul from its beginnings and the emergence of the universe; Soul of Man, which explains the soul as a will and a consciousness; and Self Creation, which suggests ways of remodelling the soul.

A later work, Der Seele Wirken und Gestalten (The Action of the Soul and its Effect), dealt with similar themes and was also split up into three books: The Soul of the Child and the Parent's Duty, a study in pedagogy; The Soul of the Nation and the Molders of its Power, which argued that the Volk was an indivisible unit and was shaped by its leaders so that bad leadership could kill off a group; The God-Story of the Nations, which claimed that culture was more important to any people than civilisation and that it was tied in to their will to creation itself.

She was also an advocate of women's rights and gender equality, although such issues did not form a central part of the wider political platform with which she would become associated.