The contemporary state of affairs is way too complex to presuppose that a simple formula will be enough to synthesize all its multiple facets. The fact that both our institutions and our mental life are regulated by communication, is more and more evident. It is also clear that human history should submit itself to a democratic consensus, and that contemporary societies have to proclaim themselves democratic, pretending many times they are following a consensus that must be the kernel of collective and individual development. This consensus, however, is itself also being submitted to an all-encompassing social experiment. Such an experiment is permanently looking for new laws and new accomplishments, because in complying with the scientific model, it presupposes that laws previously valid and previous social accomplishments no longer apply, because social life is in need of being reinvented and people should live in harmony with the new laws. The individuals are therefore entangled in this continuous reconfiguration of their institutions and of themselves. They are nolens volens obliged to judge this perpetual renewal of their social tissue in order to secure their own personal life. This book is an answer to the now globally widespread need of judgment by everyone of the results of this continuous reconfiguration, and although it does not claim any final conclusion, it sums up many important views about our time that should be an important contribution to the construction of a humanity worth living.

Editors: Pablo Valdivia & Carlos del Valle

University of Groningen Press | UGP

The physical books of the University of Groningen Press are distributed in collaboration with Uitgeverij kleine Uil.

The Open Access editions are available University of Groningen Press

ISBN PDF UFRO: 9789562363679

DOI: 10.21827/5e8c95107a748