It is an understatement to say that there is a widespread sentiment that the world is haunted by one crisis after another. Books on a big “societal collapse,” either looming or already underway in front of our eyes, can be found everywhere. (I recently read Goliath’s Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse by Luke Kemp and Breaking Together by Jem Bendell.) Apart from old and recycled recipes how to fix everything, what and who to blame, and so on, and calls to this or that urgent action that needs to be taken now, there is little new and original thought, especially from the philosophical corner. (I am happy to be proven wrong on this one!)
In this Philosophy Café, I want to discuss what a proper philosophical response would look like in relation to the ubiquitous talk of the collapse of civilization, the collapse of the West, or the unravelling of our society, or widespread extinction. Once upon a time philosophers thought that reality is rational and that it can be comprehended rationally or arranged in a rational way. But do these assumptions still hold? What follows if we drop them? Is there only one type of rationality? Does it fail in our historical situation? If so, what is a good response? I will briefly sketch out some ideas of my own, but I am very curious what you think. As always, everyone is very welcome to participate in the discussion.
— Ingo Farin
For this Philosophy Café, Ingo will deliver some reflections on these themes, followed by discussion.
This is a free event, but please RSVP so we know how many people we’re expecting!
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