Om det gudomliga som nollsummespel

“What actually occurs in the course of modernity is thus not simply the erasure or disappearance of God but the transference of his attributes, essential powers, and capacities to other entities or realms of being. The so called process of disenchantment is thus also a process of reenchantment in and through which both man and nature are infused with a number of attributes or powers previously ascribed to God. To put the matter more starkly, in the face of the long drawn out death of God, science can provide a coherent account of the whole only by making man or nature or both in some sense divine.”

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Michael Allen Gillespie, The theological origins of modernity (University of Chicago Press, 2008) , 274.

Om naturen som det yttersta hotet mot frihet

Foto: Robert Hammarstrand

På tal om föreställningen om människans oinskränkta herravälde över naturen, så tycks den återfinnas både inom marxismen och inom kapitalismen. I alla fall enligt nedanstående exempel:

Michael Allen Gillespie beskriver i sin bok The Theological Origins of Modernity, hur vänsterhegelianerna i sin jakt på total frihet även försökte bekämpa den begränsande naturen:

"In place of the existing order they imagined a world in which everyone would be able to do whatever they wished, to ´hunt in the morning, fish in the afternon, and be a critical critic in the evening.´However, such universal freedom and prosperity could only be achieved if nature were completely mastered. To achieve this goal, they believed it would thus be necesary to be free human productivity forces by means of a revolutionary overthrow of the existing social and political order. In this way the artificial constraints on the productive power of technology would be removed, a superabundance created, and all want eliminated."
Michael Allen Gillespie, The Theological Origins of Modernity. (The University of Chicago Press: 2008). s.283

Terry Eagleton hävdar i After Theory att kapitalismen, trots sitt vurmande för materialismen, är hemligt allergisk mot det materiella, inklusive naturen:

"It is a culture shot through with fantasy, idealist to its core, powered by a disembodied will which dreams of pounding Nature to pieces. It makes an idol out of matter, but cannot stomach the resistance it offers to its grandiose schemes. It is to be sure, no crime to tattoo your biceps. The West has long believed in molding Nature to its own desires; it is just that it used to be known as the pioneer spirit and is nowdays known as postmodernism. Taming the Mississippi and piercing your navel are just earlier and later versions of the same ideology. Having moulded the landscape to our own image and landscape, we have now begun to recraft ourselves. Civil engineering has been joined by cosmetic surgery. But there can be more or less cridible reasons for piercing your navel. The credible reason is that it is fun; the discreditable reason is that it may involve the belief that your body, like your bank account, is yours to do what you like with."
Terry Eagleton, After Theory (Penguin books, 2004) s. 165

Marxismen och kapitalismen tycks alltså förenad av ett sorts gemensamt förakt för naturen och de begränsingar som den ställer människan inför. Ny tanke för mig ...