What can philosophy do to get through these difficult times? Corine Pelluchon, a philosopher who counts in European literary and intellectual circles, offers a new avenue to approach difficult times, in particular the destruction of the environment.
By her own admission, Corine Pelluchon has hit rock bottom. She went through very dark times. From her personal experience with depression, the French philosopher – already known for her writings on animal ethics and veganism – reflected on the meaning to be given to our times. It is from this posture that she tries to define a new ethic of life that goes beyond her person and that can apply to society as a whole.
We say it and we repeat it, anxiety is the evil of the century, especially among young people who can no longer project themselves into the future because the state of the planet despairs and anguishes them. We then speak of eco-anxiety.
Faced with this generalized despair, Corine Pelluchon does not offer optimism or positive thinking, nor even hope. “To speak of hope, she writes, means that we form the wish that something happens, as if a success, a love could fill us by giving us the assurance of a happy life and the certainty that we have value. This hope is an unwitting despair. »
Corine Pelluchon prefers to talk about hope, a concept that has a spiritual dimension, it’s true, but without falling into blind religious belief. The philosopher also describes herself as being neither atheist nor a believer.
“If hope presupposes taking the measure of current dangers, it also teaches us to live in the present and to believe in the future, without dwelling on the past and abandoning all resentment. »
Quite daringly, the philosopher draws a parallel between her personal depression and climatic depression. In both cases, she says, there is a crippling sense of helplessness that can lead to despair.
But unlike depression as the individual feels and experiences it, climatic depression differs in its structure, suggests Corine Pelluchon. The latter would be caused “by concern for the world and love of life”. “It is the desire to inhabit the earth in a healthier way that generates climatic depression”, adds the philosopher.
The one who is close to environmental activist movements believes that this shared vulnerability is the driving force behind the movement. She speaks of a “feeling of humility which is the condition of cooperation”, which “promotes mutual aid, action, innovation, encouraging those who see themselves as survivors to do their best to halt the degradation of ecosystems and defend the value of life and its beauty”.
It is this dimension of lucidity that distinguishes hope from hope or optimism. “Hope, once again, is radically opposed to denial”, specifies Pelluchon.
This is a meaningful reflection for members of a generation in search of answers and comfort in the face of the challenges that await them. Be careful, we are far from the personal growth book which offers a ready-made recipe to understand the era. We are faced with a demanding reflection which, despite a little mystical side which may irritate some readers, remains very rigorous on the philosophical level.
Hope, or crossing the impossible
Corine Pelluchon
Shorelines
140 pages
Extract
“One must know what hope is in order to recognize this aspiration and at the same time be able to judge what can fuel false hopes that exploit social energy in a politically suspect or inadequate way. It is also necessary to understand how much we suffer, individually and collectively, from this loss of hope in order to be aware of the period that is both dangerous and stimulating that we are going through and of the need to provide responses that meet the spiritual needs of people and give them the feeling that their actions have a meaning that transcends the purely individual dimension of their existence. »
Who is Corine Pelluchon?
Professor at Gustave Eiffel University, specializing in political philosophy and applied ethics. Author of several essays, including The Ethics of Consideration And Let’s fix the world: humans, animals, nature.