Essay on the Failure of Human Civilization Based on Dalrymple's Work

This essay delves into Theodore Dalrymple's argument about the failure of human civilization, highlighting the rise of violence, moral degradation, and the normalization of brutality. The author uses examples ranging from the destruction of the World Trade Center to the civil war in Liberia to illustrate the deterioration of basic human instincts. The essay explores the contrast between societal advancements and the ethical decline, emphasizing the double standards and the individualistic justifications for destructive behavior. It further discusses the increasing acceptance of brutality as a mass phenomenon, overshadowing the pursuit of peace and harmony. The essay concludes by stressing the urgent need for humanity to recognize the consequences of this irreversible fall to foster a change in approach and prevent further ethical decay. Desklib offers a platform to explore similar essays and academic resources.

Running head: PHILOSOPHY
PHILOSOPHY
Name of the Student
Name of the Student
Author Note:

1PHILOSOPHY
In the article “” the author has mainly shown the failure of human civilisation. There
have been much advancement in terms of technology or the way we live and our lifestyle,
however it is true that the basic instinct of the human being has deteriorated by the day and
presently there are far more reasons to condemn the humanity than there were reasons to
condemn the barbarians in the medieval days.
The author has shown various examples of such incidents which categorically prove
the fact that the human civilisation has failed in its endeavour to really be a civilised society
as claimed.
Destruction plays a very important role in the modern human life today. Probably
even more role it plays than what is played by construction. The author starts with the
example of the destruction of the world trade centre which he had himself experienced,
causing the death of hundreds. The author has been writing a book review at that point of
time and he shows that how his work so much small and insignificant compared to the large-
scale violence and deaths of the falling of the world trade centre. However the scale of a job
is always relative. Every individual person is having their contribution to the building of a
country and the earth as a whole. The role of a painter is no more less than the role of the
doctor, and the sweeper is as important as the lawyer in the whole picture.
The main argument of the author about the failure of human civilisation is supported
by the violence that he encountered and experienced in various places around the world
through various incidents. Starting from the death of hundreds in the fall of world trade centre
to his insights about the bomb shelters, starting from the unrepaired attack sites in Britain
dating back to the world war to the scenario in the Centennial hall in Siberia and the broken
piano, all reflects the lost game of humanity, the title very aptly is “what we have to lose”,
what more do we have to lose?

2PHILOSOPHY
The author has discussed the riots and violent protests in various parts of the world
where the rioters run havoc destroying and breaking whatever comes in their way. The author
describes how these people are then seen to be dining in expensive restaurants. The stark
contrast of breaking glasses to protest against the “bourgeois” class, and then dining in an
expensive restaurant only exposes the double standard of the people. These are the worst kind
of satiation of the human instinct where people have this strange feeling of satisfaction by
destroying (Kaldor). The activity of destruction in a way gives the feeling of empowerment to
the people who have not tasted it. It is a way of satiating the need to show one’s own power
to impact the state.
There are collective crisis and there are individual crisis and it is seen throughout the
history of human kind, that the individual crisis and failures have been ignored on the larger
context (Balibar). The example of the young man in his 20’s trying to intervene and stop his
mother’s boyfriend from beating her, and then getting beaten himself in a way that he had to
be hospitalised, however the mother asking him not to lodge a complaint because she doesn’t
wants to lose the man, for her own physical desires, is one of the worst forms of familial
tragedy that one can imagine. How much more can the humanity degrade in order to fulfil the
desires?
I agree to the author and his argument and it is a fact that more or less the human
civilisation is going towards a moral and ethical degradation and is justifying these by
showing the excuse of independence of the individual. However individual independence is
more important than the collective interest of the whole community or not is a long drawn
debate (Crosswhite).
The civil war in Liberia is an example of the animalistic instinct of the human clan.
“In fact there was—and not very far away, in a building called the Centennial Hall, where the

3PHILOSOPHY
inauguration ceremonies of the presidents of Liberia took place. The hall was empty now,
except for the busts of former presidents, some of them overturned, around the walls—and a
Steinway grand piano, probably the only instrument of its kind in the entire country, two-
thirds of the way into the hall. The piano, however, was not intact: its legs had been sawed
off (though they were by design removable) and the body of the piano laid on the ground, like
a stranded whale. Around it were disposed not only the sawed-off legs, but little piles of
human feces” (Dalrymple). The author says he has not seen any other image that defies and
rejects human civilisation, “refinement” as he put it.
It is evident from the recent trends that the humanity is almost coming to terms with
the fact that “destruction” “brutality” and similar concepts are “normal”. The normal of
today’s day in many ways defy the normal which was considered previously (Deleuze, Gilles
and Félix). Peace and harmony as almost fantastical ideas that is hard to achieve and is hardly
seen or experienced these days. “This brutality is now a mass phenomenon rather than a sign
of individual psychopathology.” Therefore the trend is going towards an end where there will
be spontaneous mass participation in brutality (Bale). The author gives example of a soccer
game where two very popular teams come to play and the supporters of both the teams has to
be kept separated by Police Cordon otherwise there will be mass violence taking place. This
taking of granted the fact that the audience will be participating in violence in the absence of
police is the proof of the recent trend that shows the mass participation in brutality.
Piotr Hoffman in his book called the “Violence in Modern Philosophy” gives
philosophical insights that the “notion of and concern with violence are not limited to
political philosophy but in fact form the essential component of philosophy in general. The
acute awareness of the ever-present possibility of violence, filters into and informs ontology
and epistemology in ways that require careful analysis” (Hoffman). The failure of humanity
is due to its acute ignorance to the rise of “brutality” in every quarters of life. The day

4PHILOSOPHY
humanity is aware about the further consequences of such an irreversible fall, is the day when
maybe there will be a change in approach, till that day there is little hope.

5PHILOSOPHY
Reference:
Bale, Anthony. Feeling persecuted: christians, Jews and images of violence in the middle
ages. Reaktion Books, 2012.
Balibar, Étienne. Violence and civility: On the limits of political philosophy. Columbia
University Press, 2015.
Crosswhite, James. Deep rhetoric: philosophy, reason, violence, justice, Wisdom. University
of Chicago Press, 2013.
Dalrymple, Theodore. Our culture, what's left of it: The mandarins and the masses. Chicago:
Ivan R. Dee, 2005.
Deleuze, Gilles, and Félix Guattari. What is philosophy?. Columbia University Press, 2014.
Hoffman, Piotr. "Violence in Modern Philosophy." (1989).
Kaldor, Mary. New and old wars: Organised violence in a global era. John Wiley & Sons,
2013.