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Does Eco-Politics Exist and Does it Have Need of a Philosophy? 111
2. What is happening with us?
We do not have a clue what is happening with us. I mean this literally:
the store of expressions with the aid of which we were able to share our
experiences with one another as reality has suddenly become obsolete.
The last Great Narrative, within the framework of which the self¬
representation of the West formed a connected, coherent whole— was
about the triumph of truth — like every Great Narrative. (You will know
the truth and the truth will set you free.) In this case the finding of the
truth was hoped for from the application of the method of scientific
investigation and liberation from the achievements of technological
progress, which — as the fruit of ever-growing knowledge — gifts humanity
with the endless plenty of produced goods. This plenty was identified
with general prosperity, which some hoped would result from the invisible
hand regulating market processes, while others believed it would come
precisely from scientific planning, which in the future would, so to speak,
end the vulnerability of our species to the blind necessity of nature as
well as to coercive social conditions. All men will become brothers and,
in a society organised according to the impartial rules of pure reason, the
liberated individuals can finally get down to the satisfaction of all their
needs. With this, according to the concurrent promises of Karl Marx and
Francis Fukuyama, history will come to an end.
Without a doubt, this narrative has made possible several ideas that
are mutually exclusive from the perspective of good government. ‘These
differed from each other primarily regarding the way in which they
sought to solve the tension between the demands of the individual for
freedom and truth. They extended from the justification of the absolute
power of the state through the glorification of the competition of the free
market to the demand for communities without governance. But whether
they appealed to the rationality of their laws or to the inalienable rights
of the individual, they all agreed in deriving the legitimacy of a political
system not from the prestige of titles of power, whether of supernatural
or earthly origin, but from the mandate gained from the members of the
political community. From the will of people who accept the necessity
of cooperation, but who seek to limit their responsibilities arising
therefrom, so that these should restrict them as little as possible in
anything that they deem, according to their individual convictions, to
serve their own good. The role of governance is therefore not the
identification of the right goals and the enforcement of their observance,