"LIFE ETC."

Towards Super-Equality? / Part II

Hello again,
It is sad that the most important event of the break is the terrible death of Hrant Dink. There's nothing I can do other than to express how sorry I am.

Now begins the second semester. In the last “Life Etc.” before the break, I started to describe the classical, religious and modern perception of human identity: the ruler/owner/manager over other species.1 This mythical self-perception, I claimed in that issue, leads to a dilemma, which threatens the myth of human superiority itself. Now, let me explain how this happens.

In his famous work The End of History and the Last Man, Francis Fukuyama explains two future rivals of liberal democracy: one "from below" and one "from above." The former is the mentality, which prefers an exclusive local identity to the inclusive title of humanity. The latter, hand in hand with modern science, offers the over-enlargement of the ideal of égalité. What do we mean by “over-enlargement”?
"Modern natural science," explains Fukuyama, "shows that there are no essential differences between human beings and nature." Once the idea of difference vanishes, that of superiority vanishes as well. Once this happens, you cannot explain the rationale that tells you to kill a shark (or a virus) in order to save a man's life, because one life cannot be scientifically superior to another. The modern (or post-modern) dilemma/paradox appears at this level: we rule nature via modern science, but modern science shows that we have no right to do this.2

In fact, this phenomenon is already beyond a fictional prediction. Some people started to question why human beings ought to be equal to each other but superior to other organisms. For instance, in his novel Ishmael, Daniel Quinn claims, "humanity holds on to the idea that human is unique. This myth of superiority gives them the permission to act however they want in the world, just like Hitler's mythology about the ARYAN race gave him permission to do anything he wanted to the rest of Europe." 3

It is startling, when one follows Quinn's mental footsteps, to ask the difference between human-facism and ARYAN-fascism. Such an attempt, without a doubt, harms the common sense formed since the renaissance. It takes the ethical arguments from a solid basis, and forces them to walk on water. The very consequences of modernity seem to cause everything that is solid melt into air 4, and this causes seriousness to turn into absurdity.

Jackets and beers produced for dogs, or seeing a cat wearing specially designed clothes in a fashion show are the first-level symptoms of this absurd mentality.
But is this the limit? Can the Goddess of égalité go completely mad beyond this? I'm afraid she can. I will explain how and conclude this trilogy next week. Till then, take care and try your best to get used to waking up early again.

1 See the "Archive" section of Bilkent News website for the article.
2 Fukuyama, Francis. The End of History and the Last Man. Chapter 27.
3 Quinn, Daniel. Ishmael. Book 8, Chapter 10. The book is translated to Turkish under the title "Ismail" by Dharma Yayinlari.
4 See "Everything That Is Solid Melts Into Air: The Experience of Modernity" by Marshall Berman for an analysis of Modernity. Translated to Turkish under the title "Katı Olan Her şey Buharlaşıyor: Modernite Deneyimi" by İletişim Yayınevi.