Specters of Uranus: Sense of Alienation in Western Thinking

Ramesh Sharma

doi:doi:10.11648/j.hss.20251306.16

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Specters of Uranus: Sense of Alienation in Western Thinking

Ramesh Sharma^*

Published in Humanities and Social Sciences (Volume 13, Issue 6)

Received: 1 November 2025 Accepted: 13 November 2025 Published: 24 December 2025

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Abstract

This paper examines the epistemology of the sense of “alienation” in Western thinking since early Greece through to modern day thinking up to Poststructuralism. The term is informed by a sense of insecurity assumed by Uranus to his power and an obsession to retain it. It led to the primordial creation of a binary opposition of “I/We” (Uranus, the power) and “they” (his offspring, the Giants and the Cyclopes, the possible threat to the power), or in short, a sense of alienation, a defense mechanism by Uranus to retain his power. This was the first social dichotomy consciously designed to retain power which soon translated into conflict like Gigantomachy (war between Uranus and the Giants) and later Titanomachy (the war between the Titans and the Olympians). The paper assumes that the idea first gets conceived in and executed by the first Greek God, Uranus, and since then it has found an active legacy in different transmutations. It uses analytical and interpretive methods to look into the transmutation through representative texts in different discourses-literature, politics, science, psychology, mathematics, history. The transmutation has a social impact and this paper is particular with conflict and war as examples. The paper also contends that most of the conflicts in the West, starting with the Trojan War until the Russian-Ukraine conflict, have germs in this idea. What Uranus did is often honestly re-orchestrated by his orphans in the West in new forms and platforms across time and hence an insight into it will certainly impact our perspective on the cause and consequence of conflict and war today.

Published in	Humanities and Social Sciences (Volume 13, Issue 6)
DOI	10.11648/j.hss.20251306.16
Page(s)	564-572
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Uranus, Alienation, Conflict, Greek Mythology

References

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Sharma, R. (2025). Specters of Uranus: Sense of Alienation in Western Thinking. Humanities and Social Sciences, 13(6), 564-572. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20251306.16

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Sharma, R. Specters of Uranus: Sense of Alienation in Western Thinking. Humanit. Soc. Sci. 2025, 13(6), 564-572. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20251306.16

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Sharma R. Specters of Uranus: Sense of Alienation in Western Thinking. Humanit Soc Sci. 2025;13(6):564-572. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20251306.16

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@article{10.11648/j.hss.20251306.16,
  author = {Ramesh Sharma},
  title = {Specters of Uranus: Sense of Alienation in Western Thinking},
  journal = {Humanities and Social Sciences},
  volume = {13},
  number = {6},
  pages = {564-572},
  doi = {10.11648/j.hss.20251306.16},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20251306.16},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.hss.20251306.16},
  abstract = {This paper examines the epistemology of the sense of “alienation” in Western thinking since early Greece through to modern day thinking up to Poststructuralism. The term is informed by a sense of insecurity assumed by Uranus to his power and an obsession to retain it. It led to the primordial creation of a binary opposition of “I/We” (Uranus, the power) and “they” (his offspring, the Giants and the Cyclopes, the possible threat to the power), or in short, a sense of alienation, a defense mechanism by Uranus to retain his power. This was the first social dichotomy consciously designed to retain power which soon translated into conflict like Gigantomachy (war between Uranus and the Giants) and later Titanomachy (the war between the Titans and the Olympians). The paper assumes that the idea first gets conceived in and executed by the first Greek God, Uranus, and since then it has found an active legacy in different transmutations. It uses analytical and interpretive methods to look into the transmutation through representative texts in different discourses-literature, politics, science, psychology, mathematics, history. The transmutation has a social impact and this paper is particular with conflict and war as examples. The paper also contends that most of the conflicts in the West, starting with the Trojan War until the Russian-Ukraine conflict, have germs in this idea. What Uranus did is often honestly re-orchestrated by his orphans in the West in new forms and platforms across time and hence an insight into it will certainly impact our perspective on the cause and consequence of conflict and war today.},
 year = {2025}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Specters of Uranus: Sense of Alienation in Western Thinking
AU  - Ramesh Sharma
Y1  - 2025/12/24
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N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20251306.16
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JF  - Humanities and Social Sciences
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EP  - 572
PB  - Science Publishing Group
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UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20251306.16
AB  - This paper examines the epistemology of the sense of “alienation” in Western thinking since early Greece through to modern day thinking up to Poststructuralism. The term is informed by a sense of insecurity assumed by Uranus to his power and an obsession to retain it. It led to the primordial creation of a binary opposition of “I/We” (Uranus, the power) and “they” (his offspring, the Giants and the Cyclopes, the possible threat to the power), or in short, a sense of alienation, a defense mechanism by Uranus to retain his power. This was the first social dichotomy consciously designed to retain power which soon translated into conflict like Gigantomachy (war between Uranus and the Giants) and later Titanomachy (the war between the Titans and the Olympians). The paper assumes that the idea first gets conceived in and executed by the first Greek God, Uranus, and since then it has found an active legacy in different transmutations. It uses analytical and interpretive methods to look into the transmutation through representative texts in different discourses-literature, politics, science, psychology, mathematics, history. The transmutation has a social impact and this paper is particular with conflict and war as examples. The paper also contends that most of the conflicts in the West, starting with the Trojan War until the Russian-Ukraine conflict, have germs in this idea. What Uranus did is often honestly re-orchestrated by his orphans in the West in new forms and platforms across time and hence an insight into it will certainly impact our perspective on the cause and consequence of conflict and war today.
VL  - 13
IS  - 6
ER  -

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Ramesh Sharma

Department of English, Assam Don Bosco University, Assam, India

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http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7760-3331

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Sharma, R. (2025). Specters of Uranus: Sense of Alienation in Western Thinking. Humanities and Social Sciences, 13(6), 564-572. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20251306.16

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Sharma, R. Specters of Uranus: Sense of Alienation in Western Thinking. Humanit. Soc. Sci. 2025, 13(6), 564-572. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20251306.16

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AMA Style

Sharma R. Specters of Uranus: Sense of Alienation in Western Thinking. Humanit Soc Sci. 2025;13(6):564-572. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20251306.16

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@article{10.11648/j.hss.20251306.16,
  author = {Ramesh Sharma},
  title = {Specters of Uranus: Sense of Alienation in Western Thinking},
  journal = {Humanities and Social Sciences},
  volume = {13},
  number = {6},
  pages = {564-572},
  doi = {10.11648/j.hss.20251306.16},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20251306.16},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.hss.20251306.16},
  abstract = {This paper examines the epistemology of the sense of “alienation” in Western thinking since early Greece through to modern day thinking up to Poststructuralism. The term is informed by a sense of insecurity assumed by Uranus to his power and an obsession to retain it. It led to the primordial creation of a binary opposition of “I/We” (Uranus, the power) and “they” (his offspring, the Giants and the Cyclopes, the possible threat to the power), or in short, a sense of alienation, a defense mechanism by Uranus to retain his power. This was the first social dichotomy consciously designed to retain power which soon translated into conflict like Gigantomachy (war between Uranus and the Giants) and later Titanomachy (the war between the Titans and the Olympians). The paper assumes that the idea first gets conceived in and executed by the first Greek God, Uranus, and since then it has found an active legacy in different transmutations. It uses analytical and interpretive methods to look into the transmutation through representative texts in different discourses-literature, politics, science, psychology, mathematics, history. The transmutation has a social impact and this paper is particular with conflict and war as examples. The paper also contends that most of the conflicts in the West, starting with the Trojan War until the Russian-Ukraine conflict, have germs in this idea. What Uranus did is often honestly re-orchestrated by his orphans in the West in new forms and platforms across time and hence an insight into it will certainly impact our perspective on the cause and consequence of conflict and war today.},
 year = {2025}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Specters of Uranus: Sense of Alienation in Western Thinking
AU  - Ramesh Sharma
Y1  - 2025/12/24
PY  - 2025
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20251306.16
DO  - 10.11648/j.hss.20251306.16
T2  - Humanities and Social Sciences
JF  - Humanities and Social Sciences
JO  - Humanities and Social Sciences
SP  - 564
EP  - 572
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-8184
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20251306.16
AB  - This paper examines the epistemology of the sense of “alienation” in Western thinking since early Greece through to modern day thinking up to Poststructuralism. The term is informed by a sense of insecurity assumed by Uranus to his power and an obsession to retain it. It led to the primordial creation of a binary opposition of “I/We” (Uranus, the power) and “they” (his offspring, the Giants and the Cyclopes, the possible threat to the power), or in short, a sense of alienation, a defense mechanism by Uranus to retain his power. This was the first social dichotomy consciously designed to retain power which soon translated into conflict like Gigantomachy (war between Uranus and the Giants) and later Titanomachy (the war between the Titans and the Olympians). The paper assumes that the idea first gets conceived in and executed by the first Greek God, Uranus, and since then it has found an active legacy in different transmutations. It uses analytical and interpretive methods to look into the transmutation through representative texts in different discourses-literature, politics, science, psychology, mathematics, history. The transmutation has a social impact and this paper is particular with conflict and war as examples. The paper also contends that most of the conflicts in the West, starting with the Trojan War until the Russian-Ukraine conflict, have germs in this idea. What Uranus did is often honestly re-orchestrated by his orphans in the West in new forms and platforms across time and hence an insight into it will certainly impact our perspective on the cause and consequence of conflict and war today.
VL  - 13
IS  - 6
ER  -

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