By Leonardo Boff and - -
RIO DE JANEIRO, May 1 2004 (IPS)

Generalised terrorism, whether that of Al Qaeda, of Sharon in Israel, or of US President Bush, arouses very real fears of calamity in the near future, writes Leonardo Boff, a writer and theologian. At times it seems we haven\’t yet seen the worst that could befall us. This situation raises a philosophical question: can we still place any hope in human beings? Are we capable of improving our social behaviour, our sense of humanity and morality, or are we condemned to live this tragedy to the very end until we destroy ourselves? It is always possible to improve, Boff writes, but humanity will improve only if the majority of its members do so. If this does not happen, we are finished. We will increase our destructive capabilities until tragedy is inevitable. But for this not to happen, one must assume the existence of a second factor: a philosophy of hope.

Italian philosopher Norberto Bobbio, though melancholy by temperament, believed in the possibilities of the two great revolutions of the West: that of human rights and that of democracy.

Both served as foundations for his proposal for a juridical and political pacifism that could break the habit of using violence to resolve antagonism between states. But acts of global terrorism destroyed his convictions. In one of his last interviews Bobbio said: ”I can’t say how I think the Third Millennium will be. My certainties are disappearing and only an enormous question mark turns in my head: with this be the millennium of a war of extermination, or of harmony between all human beings? I have no answer to this question.”

At the end of his life, the eminent historian Arnold Toynbee, after writing twelve tomes on the great civilisations of history, expressed the following sombre opinion in his autobiographical essay ”Experiences” (1969): ”I lived to see the end of human history turn into an intrahistorical possibility that could be brought about not by an act of God but by acts of men.”

And to further deepen by disquiet, I cite a source completely above suspicion, Samuel P. Huntington, former Pentagon advisor and perspicacious analyst of the process of globalisation. At the end of his ”Clash of Civilisations” he writes: ”Law and order are the first prerequisites for civilisation: in much of the world it seems they are evaporating. On a global scale civilisation seems in many aspects to be giving way to barbarism, generating the spectre of an unprecedented phenomenon, a global Dark Ages looming over humanity.” And we could name many names.

These visions of severe realism grow more acute with generalised terrorism, whether that of Al Qaeda, of Sharon in Israel, or US President Bush, which arouses very real fears of calamity in the near future. At times it seems we haven’t yet seen the worst that could befall us.

This situation raises a philosophical question: can we still place any hope in human beings? Are we capable of improving our social behaviour, our sense of humanity and morality, or are we condemned to live this tragedy to the very end until we destroy ourselves?

Of course there can be no correct answer to such radical questions. But I do see two elements that keep the path open: it is always possible to improve, but humanity will improve only if the majority of its members do so. If this does not happen, we are finished. We will increase our destructive capabilities until tragedy is inevitable. But for this not to happen, one must assume the existence of a second factor: a philosophy of hope.

This philosophy has an objective basis: the virtual character of reality. Objective facts are not all of what is real. The real also includes the realm of potential, the utopian, that which still is not yet could be. The current state of things tells us that we are wolves among wolves; but this is not all, nor are we condemned to perpetuate this state. We also have within us the potential to be brothers and sisters. This also is part of our reality. And if it is, it can be activated, it can be made into a political and personal project, and it can inspire practices that will give a better sense to history. It is always worth hoping. And thus we will be able to look back with God and say, ”It was all good.” (END/COPYRIGHT IPS)

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