Human Energy Podcast
Transcendence and Modernity: beyond the misconception - Raphael Liogier - N2 Conference
Transcendence and Modernity : beyond the misconception
Presented by Raphael Liogier Presented as part of Human Energy's N2 Conference 2023
One of my essential hypotheses is that modernity is not at all, as we think usually, the disenchantment of the world, the questioning of transcendence, but quite the contrary, it is the unprecedented promise of raw transcendence (transcendance unrefined by religious system).
It is on this promise that human rights, democracy, and the sense of individual freedom actually rest. The problem is that this promise was never fulfilled, it was hijacked by materialistic determinism from the 19th century onwards, which usurped the very name "modernity". Modernity is first of all a spiritual experience, or a noietic experience if you like. And we don't see that anymore today... I believe that the intensification of the current collective suffering comes from our inability to trust our own modern principles, because they no longer have any coherence without the initial transcendent promise.
The misconceptions about the deep meaning of transhumanism or the irrational anxiety against technology (AI in particular) come from this misunderstanding, i.e. ; the misunderstanding 1/ about the meaning of transcendence and 2/ about the meaning of modernity. This is also why we no longer have the energy to change our civilizational orientations. Our public discourses are essentially catastrophist and collapsological, negative, we are unable to propose what I call "concrete utopias", positive and creative open visions of the future.These ideas are at the heart of the first of the 4 volumes of my new work Khaos. The betrayed promise of modernity (that was released in 2023 in France).
Watch this presentation on our YouTube channel.
Transcendence and Modernity : beyond the misconception
Presented by Raphael Liogier Presented as part of Human Energy's N2 Conference 2023
One of my essential hypotheses is that modernity is not at all, as we think usually, the disenchantment of the world, the questioning of transcendence, but quite the contrary, it is the unprecedented promise of raw transcendence (transcendance unrefined by religious system).
It is on this promise that human rights, democracy, and the sense of individual freedom actually rest. The problem is that this promise was never fulfilled, it was hijacked by materialistic determinism from the 19th century onwards, which usurped the very name "modernity". Modernity is first of all a spiritual experience, or a noietic experience if you like. And we don't see that anymore today... I believe that the intensification of the current collective suffering comes from our inability to trust our own modern principles, because they no longer have any coherence without the initial transcendent promise.
The misconceptions about the deep meaning of transhumanism or the irrational anxiety against technology (AI in particular) come from this misunderstanding, i.e. ; the misunderstanding 1/ about the meaning of transcendence and 2/ about the meaning of modernity. This is also why we no longer have the energy to change our civilizational orientations. Our public discourses are essentially catastrophist and collapsological, negative, we are unable to propose what I call "concrete utopias", positive and creative open visions of the future.These ideas are at the heart of the first of the 4 volumes of my new work Khaos. The betrayed promise of modernity (that was released in 2023 in France).
Watch this presentation on our YouTube channel.