The Eclipse of Reason. M.F. Sciacca on Western Civilization

Abstract

We offer to our readers the first Russian translation of the chapter “La stupidita” from the book L’oscuramento dell’intelligenza by the Italian Catholic philoso­pher M.F. Sciacca, who called his teaching Christian Spiritualism. The starting point for him is the ancient idea of measure, understanding the finiteness of exis­tence in relationship with other finite beings and with infiniteness of God. The wisdom consists of life according to the order of being, in the perfect real­ization of the proper finite existence. The eclipse of mind is the strife of identifi­cation with the beings, having a lower place in the cosmic order, or a hubris, a loss of pietas, an exaltation of himself to the level of God. The civilizations die as a result of arrogance and stupidity, of the eclipse of reason. Hellenism re­placed the ancient wisdom, the Roman was replaced by Romanism; during the last four centuries, the eclipse of the western reason is in process, transforming the West into “Occidentalism”. This process began in the baroque times, so-called “Great Systems” of the XVIIth century were the first stage of this eclipse: ontology was replaced by methodology, gradually transformed into technology of attainment of the “optimum of happiness”. The contemporary stage of this de­cline is not even decadence but complete corruption. The West is dead now, rests the “Occidentalism’, imposed on the entire world. All the religions and even the ideologies of previous times gave way to the cult of production and consump­tion. The ruling technocracy replicates the type of homo calculator, claiming to be the apex of human development and “measure of all the things”.