Universo come processo. Eraclito e la crisi ambientale

Abstract

The Universe as a Process. Heraclitus and the Environmental Crisis. This essay fits within a series of preparatory works meant to highlight what I think should be the main traits of a new paradigm. As Modernity fades and fails, the environmental crisis is the epitome of what used to work as claimed, and no longer does. Far from being a “mere” question of low and high policies, deep misunderstandings are revealed about knowledge and, deeper still, mistaken representations of humanity’s place and role in the world. This essay will contend that a radical shift in perspective is needed to confront the challenges of the twenty-first century. The good news is that an alternative Weltanschauung already exists in Western culture – starting from Heraclitus and reaching through to Simmel – which moreover finds itself in better accord with science’s latest discoveries than the current one; the bad news is that it is unsettling and hard to handle within contemporary frames of reference and paradigmatic inertia and needs hard work and courage to be put forward.