Bibliograph

The fanaticism of the apocalypse, save the Earth, punish human beings, Pascal Bruckner ; translated by Steven Rendall

Type

Label

The fanaticism of the apocalypse, save the Earth, punish human beings, Pascal Bruckner ; translated by Steven Rendall

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references (pages [187]-204)

Index

no index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

The fanaticism of the apocalypse

Nature of contents

bibliography

Oclc number

822891889

Responsibility statement

Pascal Bruckner ; translated by Steven Rendall

Sub title

save the Earth, punish human beings

Summary

The planet is sick. Human beings are guilty of damaging it. We have to pay. Today, that is the orthodoxy throughout the Western world. Concern about the environment is legitimate, but catastrophism transforms us into cowering children. Distrust of progress and science, calls for individual and collective self-sacrifice to 'save the planet' and cultivation of fear: behind the carbon commissars, a dangerous and counterproductive ecological catastrophism is gaining ground. Bruckner locates the predecessors of today's ecological catastrophism in Catholicism's admonishment to give up joy in the present for the sake of eternal life and in Marxism's demand that individuals forsake personal needs for the sake of a brighter future. Modern society's susceptibility to this kind of catastrophism derives from what Bruckner calls the 'seductions of disaster', as exemplified by the popular appeal of disaster movies. But ecological catastrophism is harmful in that it draws attention away from other, more solvable problems and injustices in the world in order to focus on something that is portrayed as an Apocalypse. Rather than preaching catastrophe and pessimism, we need to develop a democratic and generous ecology that addresses specific problems in a practical way --, Provided by Publisher

Table Of Contents

Introduction : the return of original sin -- pt. I. The seductive attraction of disaster. Give me back my enemy -- Have the courage to be afraid -- Blackmailing future generations -- pt. II. Progressives against progress. The last avatar of Prometheus? -- Nature, a cruel stepmother or a victim? -- Science in the age of suspicion -- pt. III. The great ascetic regression. Humanity on a strict diet -- The poverty of maceration -- The noble savage in the Lucerne -- Epilogue : the remedy is found in the disease

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