The failure of humanity
Giorgio Agamben, Quodlibet, September 1, 2026
For those questioning the fates of humanity today, it is useful to reflect on the legal concept of bankruptcy. The filing for bankruptcy by an entrepreneur facing serious financial difficulties and being unable to meet his debts is intended, first and foremost, to protect creditors, but, at the same time, to limit the debtor’s liability, excluding from bankruptcy his personal assets and rights and anything necessary for his and his family’s provision. An important figure is the receiver (or receivers), appointed by the judge to administer the bankruptcy estate and carry out the necessary operations to satisfy the creditors’ interests and protect the bankrupt debtor. For their part creditors constitute a committee which collaborates with the receiver in carrying out the necessary procedures.
One may assimilate the current condition of humanity to that of an entrepreneur compelled to declare his own bankruptcy. Since it is certain that humanity is no longer able to meet the debts progressively incurred with respect to the earth on which it lives (including the atmosphere, no less contaminated than the soil). The creditors’ committee would include, in addition to representatives of the earth and air in all its aspects, also those of extinct living species or which are threatened with extinction. As for the receivers, they could form a committee, which would include wise men appointed by each nation, with the aim of satisfying the creditors’ interests, while trying at the same time to ensure the survival of failed humanity. One might question whether this procedure would succeed in achieving its intended purposes, but it is certain that it represents the only concrete possibility of salvation for a humanity in a state of complete spiritual disorder (which, as always, translates into disorder in any spheres of life). To believe, as today one often pretends to believe, that individual states and international organisations can reconcile their economic and political interests with their own survival, without radically acknowledging their state of failure and insolvency with respect to the earth they inhabit, is an illusion, often grounded in bad faith.
Giorgio Agamben, Quodlibet, September 1, 2026
For those questioning the fates of humanity today, it is useful to reflect on the legal concept of bankruptcy. The filing for bankruptcy by an entrepreneur facing serious financial difficulties and being unable to meet his debts is intended, first and foremost, to protect creditors, but, at the same time, to limit the debtor’s liability, excluding from bankruptcy his personal assets and rights and anything necessary for his and his family’s provision. An important figure is the receiver (or receivers), appointed by the judge to administer the bankruptcy estate and carry out the necessary operations to satisfy the creditors’ interests and protect the bankrupt debtor. For their part creditors constitute a committee which collaborates with the receiver in carrying out the necessary procedures.
One may assimilate the current condition of humanity to that of an entrepreneur compelled to declare his own bankruptcy. Since it is certain that humanity is no longer able to meet the debts progressively incurred with respect to the earth on which it lives (including the atmosphere, no less contaminated than the soil). The creditors’ committee would include, in addition to representatives of the earth and air in all its aspects, also those of extinct living species or which are threatened with extinction. As for the receivers, they could form a committee, which would include wise men appointed by each nation, with the aim of satisfying the creditors’ interests, while trying at the same time to ensure the survival of failed humanity. One might question whether this procedure would succeed in achieving its intended purposes, but it is certain that it represents the only concrete possibility of salvation for a humanity in a state of complete spiritual disorder (which, as always, translates into disorder in any spheres of life). To believe, as today one often pretends to believe, that individual states and international organisations can reconcile their economic and political interests with their own survival, without radically acknowledging their state of failure and insolvency with respect to the earth they inhabit, is an illusion, often grounded in bad faith.
(English translation by I, Robot)
Francis A. Willey, The Tempest, 2009. Courtesy of WikiArt. |
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