Archives : Snapshots
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The Common Waning of Philosophy and Democracy
In an interview given in 1966 on the occasion of the release of The Order of Things, Michel Foucault prophesied the end of philosophy—its dissolution and its deployment into more « pure » activities such as linguistics, logic, or literature. His prediction has come true because, by way of general philosophy, what is published today consists mainly…
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Accepting That Others, Including Our Closed Relationships, May Be Heading Toward Their Downfall
In the previous article, we saw that the trend toward authoritarianism in the West is not new. It is linked to the erosion of values like prosperity and work under the pressures of globalization and digitalization. This deep-seated trend signals dark times ahead in the coming years and decades, and the recent election of Trump…
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Authoritarianism: An Expression of Blindness and Structural Chaos
The reelection of Donald Trump as the leader of the world’s foremost power demonstrates that the authoritarian trend across the globe is not a fleeting, circumstantial anomaly that can be resolved with a handful of reforms. This trend reflects a boundless blindness that accompanies the desire to reinforce or redraw borders. The real estate magnate…
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Dangers of Unbounded Freedom of Thought and Expression
George Washington said:1 “if Men are to be precluded from offering their sentiments on a matter, which may involve the most serious and alarming consequences, that can invite the consideration of Mankind; reason is of no use to us—the freedom of Speech may be taken away—and, dumb & silent we may be led, like sheep,…
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Artificial intelligence: god and slave
Just as generative AI, such as ChatGPT and its counterparts, begins to develop, humans are already asking it all sorts of questions, much like a child does with their parents, a student with their teachers, or a believer with their deities. It thus appears as a kind of god, echoing the remarkable parallel drawn by…
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Emotional rollercoasters
The Olympic fortnight was, according to many commentators, a magical interlude within a troubled period. After a chaotic political sequence marked by the dissolution of the French National Assembly and various concerns about organization and security, the 2024 Olympics, beyond the opening ceremony, benefited from a postcard-perfect setting, a shower of French medals, and an…
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Do we want to live in peace?
In an era of political indecision where it is more about avoiding the worst rather than striving for the best, the question seems justified to me: do we want to live in peace? Have we reached some kind of ceiling in terms of softening manners? Raymond Aron defined democracy as « the organization of peaceful competition…
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The political centrifugation, revealing a societal deadlock
Since the collapse of the major historical political parties, which coincided with Emmanuel Macron’s election in 2017, French political life has become increasingly fragmented and extreme. The centre has successively acted as a third way and then as a repellent. This fragmentation is accompanied by a renewal whose originality lies more in the names of…
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“Fighting” Climate Change
The expression “fighting climate change” hadn’t really struck me until now. Reading it in a newspaper article, I wondered why it is so commonly used, both in English (fighting, tackling…) and in French (lutter). Is climate change an “enemy”? Certainly, it is a threat to humanity, but isn’t the source of this threat humanity itself,…