Illustration par Liana Buszka   Texte par Slavoj Zizek, philosophe. Traduction par Rodrigo Cáceres Nous ne devrions pas simplement nous opposer à une vie principale consacrée au devoir et jouissant de nos petits plaisirs. Prenons le capitalisme d'aujourd'hui. D’une part, nous avons les exigences de la circulation du capital qui nous poussent à faire des profits - à l'expansion, l'exploitation et la destruction de la nature. D’autre part, nous avons des exigences écologiques : pensons à notre postérité et à notre propre survie, prenons soin de la nature et ainsi de suite. Dans cette opposition entre la poursuite impitoyable de l'expansion capitaliste et la conscience écologique - le devoir, un devoir perverti bien sûr - le devoir est du côté du capitalisme , comme l'ont noté de nombreux analystes. Le capitalisme a une étrange structure religieuse. Il est propulsé par cette exigence absolue : le capital doit circuler, se reproduire, se dévelop...

Illustration by Liana Buszka Text by Slavoj Zizek We should not simply oppose a principal life - dedicated to duty and enjoying our small pleasures.  Let's take today's capitalism. We have, on the one hand, the demands of the circulation of the capital which push us towards profit making - expansion, exploitation and destruction of nature and, on the other hand, ecological demands: let's think about our posterity and about our own survival, - let's take care of nature and so on.  In this opposition between ruthless pursuit of capitalist expansion and ecological awareness - duty, a strange perverted duty of course - duty is on the side of capitalism, as many perspicuous analysts noted. Capitalism has a strange religious structure. It is propelled by this absolute demand: capital has to circulate, to reproduce itself, to expand - to multiply itself. And for this goal, anything can be sacrificed, up to our lives, up to nature and so on. Here we have ...

Image by Institutnationaldhistoiredelart , licensed by CC BY 2.0 Could we explain the emergence of religion in the human history from an evolutionary/naturalist perspective? I want to say yes, and I'll try to explain why. Most of my argument is based on an evolutionary account of the origins of morality, based on recent research on the subject. We need to start with the idea that the cognitive structures that social animals, and in particular we humans have evolved in our bodies ( e.g.  affection & care, gratitude, contempt, solitude, empathy, theory of mind, value judgments, logical thinking) emerge from an adaptive need. This is, they fulfill the need to conserve the dynamical system of social life in which humans exist. In other words, this means that these embodied structures permit to sustain and preserve life in community and the conditions that allow us to live together. Hence, these cognitive structures (such as love, care, empathy, solitude) prevent the co...