ABSTRACT
It is true that Ludwig Klages's literary style can sometimes seem almost Pythonesque in its baroque complexity and it often presents a problem for the modern reader. In a way, the convolutions, oppositions, and other rhetorical strategies of Klages's writings re-enact on a textual the kind of vertiginous experiences which feeds his argumentation. One of the key differences in Klagesian thought is that between (mechanical) beat and (organic, vital) rhythm. Klages's philosophy has the reputation for being complex, and it is. Two of the most important categories in Klagesian thought are proximity and distance, or the categories of what is near and what is far. As well as opening the reader's eyes to the cosmic dimension of life, the writings of Klages reveal him to have been a shrewed psychologist, a keen observer of human behaviour, and a steely-eyed analyst of character foibles and failings.
