The greatest threat to any civilization is the decline of its cognitive power, manifested in the decline of its collective rationality and ability to cope effectively with internal and external crises. The original ethos of liberalism was that man should be freed from all binding and traditional institutions, religions and ideologies that limit his creative and entrepreneurial potential. This intention, which was unprecedented in human history, gave birth in the 18th and 19th centuries to a distinctive anthropological type of free and predatory individual that managed to humble and shame all non-European societies.
The final stage of liberalism is the descent into nihilism and nothingness and the abolition of humanity as such.
Since the second half of the 20th century, however, liberalism, fueled by a constant need to emancipate, has turned against human nature, language, reason, and meaningful community, which it understands as persistent repressive structures. The final stage of liberalism is the descent into nihilism and nothingness and the abolition of humanity as such. The irrational currents and movements you mention are thus a partial expression of the late pathological liberal phase that destroys common sense in the name of absolute freedom. We do not know why this development occurred or whether it was necessary, but if we do not overcome this crisis, Western civilisation as we know it will disappear.
Ivo Budil is a Czech professor of antropology.
