Ecocosmism. The limits of an unsustainable life

Giovanbattista Tusa (Universidade Nova de Lisboa)

Western modernity was born with a revolution of limits. Man, who has become the creator of his own destiny, has identified freedom with a conscious and systematic violation of given conditions, with a future that constantly transcends the present. This modern condition is thus characterised by the fact that it is limited by boundaries that are mobile and can change. From this observation arises the paradoxical situation that growth today is inconceivable if it is not linked to a scenario of scarcity, in contrast to premodern theological views based instead on the abundance of creation, the original richness of the world. Inspired by this vision of a sustainable world, ecological thinking today is immediately associated with a language of finitude. Degrowth, self-restraint, responsibility, the vulnerability of ecosystems – these are all terms associated in the present with a universalist model of progress that seemed to know no limits, except those arising from temporary inequalities or unfavourable geopolitical conditions. In his seminar Giovanbattista Tusa argues that the world is doomed to its own inevitable end if sustainability is understood from the perspective of an economically sustainable future defined by the limits of capitalist management. If, on the other hand, we step out of this impoverished and economic perspective of the concept of limit and the condition of finitude, then we open ourselves to an ecological perspective that understands the world as part of a cosmic diversity that cannot be contained within a more or less extended totality of resources.