Is there a way to defend the Enlightenment today? Does its emancipatory ideal still hold any meaning? When faced with the resurgence of nationalism, environmental and health crises, and the exacerbation of inequalities, we cannot settle for invoking an Enlightenment spirit that remains unchanged over time.
The endeavor of this book lies in addressing the risk of collapse that threatens our culture without renouncing philosophical-scientific rationality, while also taking into account our dependence on nature and other living beings.
In order to fight against Anti-Enlightenment forces that seek to restore a hierarchical or theocratic society, and to respond to the reproaches of postmodern critics who view any universality with suspicion as hegemonic, we must propose a new Enlightenment. This requires us to critically reassess the history of the Enlightenment, while also resisting the instrumental use of reason and the mutilation of its moral dimension.
The goal of Enlightenment in the age of the living and the framework of a democratic and ecological society that accompanies it is to dethrone the principle of sovereignty – a sovereignty over others and over nature.
Against nationalist and anti-liberal forces, from Trump to Bolsonaro, Pellisson argues that the core of Enlightenment remains essential for inventing a common agenda. The legitimate criticisms aimed at the Enlightenment allow us to modernize an emancipatory thought that rejects the logic of sovereignty in social relations.
A new model or scheme may emerge, where dignity, respect for other cultures, and other ways of living are highlighted. Corinne Pellisson urges us not to perceive Enlightenment as something inert that inevitably approaches its decomposition, but as an attitude.
Its value does not lie in a set of texts and theoretical notions, the validity of which is doomed to fade over time, but in the critical stance that emerges from them and the moral horizon they open. In the name of this very attitude and this horizon, Enlightenment must today engage in self-criticism. Sometimes, the best way to remain faithful consists in betraying by halves.
