The Length of the Shackles - On Freedom in the 21st Century

Our contemporary societies let us believe that we are free—it is a delusion. We are still shackled in our chains, even in the West. Chains that we take for wings: we believe ourselves to be in a democracy, we think that work allows us to emancipate ourselves, and we imagine that new technologies facilitate our lives. This is our daily “Newspeak.” But oligarchy reigns. People are mired in consumerism and liberalism. Security control is more and more prevalent, while medical progress in procreation brings us closer to an “industrial fabrication of human beings.” In this context, we must question and rethink the conditions of a true human liberation. This is the work that Denis Collin has undertaken. Basing himself on numerous historical and philosophical references, he redefines the concepts and opens up new political, economic, social and metaphysical perspectives. The setting up of “partial associations” at all levels of political organization, the end of wage labor in favor of the cooperation of producers, the realization of man through his creative activity, the guarantee of the primacy of subjectivity in the face of scientism, are among the weapons intended to break our chains. Denis Collin is an associate professor of philosophy and holds a doctorate in literature and the humanities. His publications include, Le Cauchemar de Marx (Marx’s Nightmare) (Max Milo, 2009), Revive la République (Revive the Republic) (Armand Colin, 2005) and Morale et Justice sociale (Morality and Social Justice) (Seuil, 2001).