What life? What society?
The relationship between social and economic system, between progress and freedom described in a dense, original book
Doggedly looking beyond the contingent (often suffocating or misleading) at all times, seeking an outlook other than the one you see, and having faith in humanity (even when it really doesn’t seem possible): these aren’t the building blocks of a futile utopia but for marking out a better life and social system (today and tomorrow). It’s a task that applies to everyone, including those with the responsibility of governing a company, an institution, or a family. This is confirmed by reading Generare libertà. Accrescere la vita senza distruggere il mondo (Generating Freedom: increasing life without destroying the world). It was co-written by Chiara Giaccardi and Mauro Magatti and begins with a strong yet nearly obvious observation: “We are in an interregnum.” That is, we are in a period of crisis, in which “the old is dying and the new cannot be born” (quoting Antonio Gramsci), so we occupy an area of “light and shade” in which “monsters are born”. It is precisely in order to forestall the birth of monsters and aid the birth of “more life” instead that Giaccardi and Magatti lead the reader in a journey comprising suggestions and analysis, but also proposals and instructions.
The two authors start from the reality that reacts to our model of development and urges us firmly to change. They consider it necessary to redefine the relationship between individual freedom, society and the environment. To put it another way, while it is true that there are more of us than before and that we are living better and for longer, the whirlwind economic growth of the last century is now clashing with its contradictions – climate change, migration, demographic imbalance, inequality – which threaten the life of the planet itself and pose the urgent problem of sustainability.
How are we to respond? Not only with technology, but by taking another look at the premises on which growth is based, bridging a cultural delay in the realisation that no living form exists outside of relationship. This is the message of science and it has always been the message of religions: only in relationship with others do we become ourselves and exercise true freedom, in a transitive, generative way rather than a subtractive, predatory one. To demonstrate this, the book establishes a number of cornerstones along the way – the concept that life means relationships, but also creation, intelligence and ethics – and finally achieves an outline of a “supersociety” that models productive coexistence.
Giaccardi and Magatti therefore propose a different logic, one which is not so obvious and not particularly acceptable in many circles. Rather than being a logic of opposition to someone or something, it is for all. The authors have produced a book which is far from simple in certain passages, challenging in many others, and which is an intellectual adventure to read. It will also do good to all readers.
Generare libertà. Accrescere la vita senza distruggere il mondo
Chiara Giaccardi, Mauro Magatti
Il Mulino, 2024
The relationship between social and economic system, between progress and freedom described in a dense, original book
Doggedly looking beyond the contingent (often suffocating or misleading) at all times, seeking an outlook other than the one you see, and having faith in humanity (even when it really doesn’t seem possible): these aren’t the building blocks of a futile utopia but for marking out a better life and social system (today and tomorrow). It’s a task that applies to everyone, including those with the responsibility of governing a company, an institution, or a family. This is confirmed by reading Generare libertà. Accrescere la vita senza distruggere il mondo (Generating Freedom: increasing life without destroying the world). It was co-written by Chiara Giaccardi and Mauro Magatti and begins with a strong yet nearly obvious observation: “We are in an interregnum.” That is, we are in a period of crisis, in which “the old is dying and the new cannot be born” (quoting Antonio Gramsci), so we occupy an area of “light and shade” in which “monsters are born”. It is precisely in order to forestall the birth of monsters and aid the birth of “more life” instead that Giaccardi and Magatti lead the reader in a journey comprising suggestions and analysis, but also proposals and instructions.
The two authors start from the reality that reacts to our model of development and urges us firmly to change. They consider it necessary to redefine the relationship between individual freedom, society and the environment. To put it another way, while it is true that there are more of us than before and that we are living better and for longer, the whirlwind economic growth of the last century is now clashing with its contradictions – climate change, migration, demographic imbalance, inequality – which threaten the life of the planet itself and pose the urgent problem of sustainability.
How are we to respond? Not only with technology, but by taking another look at the premises on which growth is based, bridging a cultural delay in the realisation that no living form exists outside of relationship. This is the message of science and it has always been the message of religions: only in relationship with others do we become ourselves and exercise true freedom, in a transitive, generative way rather than a subtractive, predatory one. To demonstrate this, the book establishes a number of cornerstones along the way – the concept that life means relationships, but also creation, intelligence and ethics – and finally achieves an outline of a “supersociety” that models productive coexistence.
Giaccardi and Magatti therefore propose a different logic, one which is not so obvious and not particularly acceptable in many circles. Rather than being a logic of opposition to someone or something, it is for all. The authors have produced a book which is far from simple in certain passages, challenging in many others, and which is an intellectual adventure to read. It will also do good to all readers.
Generare libertà. Accrescere la vita senza distruggere il mondo
Chiara Giaccardi, Mauro Magatti
Il Mulino, 2024