71. Bruce Springsteen – political philosopher

23 oktober 2021

On page 4 of his new book “Reset” Mark Elchardus quotes a paragraph from a Bruce Springsteen song. This should not surprise anyone. Years ago i sometimes told friends that Bruce was the most important political philosopher I knew.

In his songs Springsteen has on some occasions reflected the individual that fights the chaos in society (“badlands”/the lonesome individual in “Nebraska”!) and gave voice to what I describe as “American existentialism”. On other occasions he demonstrated an intricate understanding of the importance of the community for the individual (“the ties that bind”) or of the impact of the falling apart of communities (“my hometown”, “Youngstown”).