The Irreducible Human in the Age of Discontents

Editorial Board - Notes from an online meeting with Julian Carron, Cesare Maria Cornaggia and Giulio Maspero, moderated by Ubaldo Casotto, title “Man in a Patoplastic Society.

[ Patoplastic" is a neologism, formed from "pato-" (from Greek pathos, meaning suffering or disease) and "plastic" (plastic, malleable, easily shaped). It suggests a society that is shaped by or generates pathology, or where individuals are pathologically malleable].

In an age where psychological distress has become a defining characteristic of society, a profound conversation has take place among thinkers who refuse to accept the superficial diagnosis of our condition. Three distinguished speakers recently engaged in a dialogue that challenges conventional understanding of modern discontents, arguing that what we call "pathology" may in fact be the irrepressible human spirit signaling its resistance to a flattened existence (***)

The conversation, which draws on insights from philosophy, psychology, and cultural criticism, begins with a startling premise: contemporary society inherently generates widespread psychological distress. Yet rather than seeing this as merely a medical problem to be solved with therapeutic interventions, the participants suggest something more profound is at stake—the very nature of what it means to be human in our technological age.

"The central question is what has become of man in this society," notes Julián Carrón, raising concerns about the hybrid, hyper-connected human and the fate of free will in such conditions. But rather than lamenting a fragmented self, the conversation unexpectedly turns toward affirming an "irreducible self" that persists despite all attempts to diminish it.

Drawing on Leopardi, Carrón proposes that modern anxieties, loneliness, boredom, and emptiness might not merely represent dysfunction but rather signal human greatness—our irrepressible desire for meaning that cannot be satisfied by limited offerings.

"These growing discomforts aren't necessarily just pathologies," Julián Carrón argues, "but can be interpreted as symptoms of man's grandeur and irreducibility."

This perspective challenges the conventional boundaries between normal and pathological states. When a society itself has become "patoplastic"—generating distress as its default condition—how do we determine what constitutes health?

The traditional distinction between normality and pathology appears increasingly inadequate, with contemporary discontents often defying conventional psychopathological models.

"Many people find themselves in profound solitude," observes Professor Cornaggia, "struggling to find an interlocutor equal to their discomfort, someone who can address fundamental questions about life's meaning and desire."

This observation highlights what philosopher Maria Zambrano described as a crisis of "the mysterious bond that unites our being with reality." Rebuilding this connection becomes central to addressing our modern predicament.

The conversation ventures into territory rarely explored in mainstream psychological discourse—what one speaker terms the "religious sense" intrinsic to human nature.

Citing Luciani and Giussani, he describes an irreducible characteristic of the human heart that aspires toward the infinite and cannot be satisfied by anything less. This natural and necessary desire for happiness, while potentially unattainable in Leopardi's view, nonetheless marks human dignity and greatness.

This framework leads to a pointed critique of contemporary psychological and psychiatric approaches. While acknowledging their good intentions, the speakers suggest these disciplines often remain superficial when they address distress solely through conventional models or attempt to resolve individual solitude by referring the "solitary" person to communities composed of other equally isolated individuals.

"These approaches can become unbearable for those seeking a deeper response," notes Julián Carrón, suggesting that genuine hope emerges only through encounter with a meaningful "presence"—a human difference capable of facing discomfort without fear and introducing meaning to reality. This is where the educational task functions as a "bridge."

A crucial distinction emerges between what Cornaggia calls the "spiritual self" (irreducible, emerging even in extreme conditions like concentration camps) and the "cognitive self" that requires education and language from others to articulate itself. "I am you who makes me," he observes, suggesting that symptoms manifest both as signs of spiritual irreducibility and as the cognitive self's lack of adequate language.

The conversation turns to contemporary parenting, noting a crisis in both paternal and maternal functions. The absence of proper boundaries and containment, which are fundamental for forming the cognitive self, leaves young people adrift in a world without limits.

Where might we find a true "norm" in a society where statistical normality has become pathological? According to Prof Cornaggaio, the “canon"—in beauty, poetry, art, and profound human experiences preserved in tragedy and classical literature. Building communities that share these experiences and references helps people read reality and cultivates individuals capable of meaningfully facing distress.

The dialogue concludes with a warning about the risks of cognitive totalitarianism accelerated by social media and specific uses of technology, including artificial intelligence.

When people lack critical capacity and remain trapped in individualistic perspectives, manipulation becomes possible. Citing Ratzinger on the West's "pathology" of hating its roots, Cornaggia suggests that the constitutive words "Father, Son, Love"—divine words entrusted to humanity for mutual generation—offer hope and transcendence beyond purely human solutions.

This remarkable conversation offers not just diagnosis but direction, suggesting that our modern discontents, properly understood, might serve as signposts toward what truly fulfills the human person.

In a culture often content with managing symptoms, these thinkers dare to ask what those symptoms might be trying to tell us about our deepest nature and most authentic needs.

(***) - The original full video in Italian can be viewed HERE. The full meeting has been translated using AI technology and can be viewed on our EpochalChange YouTube channel in Part 1 and Part 2 videos.