[Naomi Oreskes from the Introduction] What is a surprise—and a serious challenge to our global political and business leadership—is his attention to the set of mentalities that he variously calls the myths of modernity, the myth of progress, and the technocratic paradigm.
Perhaps the most radical part of the letter (and the part that has already proved disturbing to some readers) is its powerful critique of our “models of production and consumption.” The pope addresses head-on our prevailing economic practices and the modes of thought that insist—despite considerable evidence to the contrary—that we just need to let markets do their “magic.”
While the word “capitalism” does not appear in the letter, the word “market” (or its variants) appears nineteen times, usually in a critical context.
. . . .
He [Pope Francis] is asking us to reexamine the creed of “individualism, unlimited progress, competition, consumerism, the unregulated market.”
. . . .
[Quoting directly from the encyclical] "The basic problem … is the way that humanity has taken up technology and its development according to an undifferentiated and one-dimensional paradigm. This paradigm exalts the concept of a subject who, using logical and rational procedures, progressively approaches and gains control over an external object … Men and women have constantly intervened in nature, but for a long time this meant being in tune with and respecting the possibilities offered by the things themselves. It was a matter of receiving what nature itself allowed, as if from its own hand. Now, by contrast, we are the ones to lay our hands on things, attempting to extract everything possible from them while frequently ignoring or forgetting the reality in front of us … This has made it easy to accept the idea of infinite or unlimited growth, which proves so attractive to economists, financiers and experts in technology. It is based on the lie that there is an infinite supply of the earth’s goods, and this leads to the planet being squeezed dry beyond every limit. It is the false notion that “an infinite quantity of energy and resources are available, that it is possible to renew them quickly, and that the negative effects of the exploitation of the natural order can be easily absorbed.”" (Quoted from the encyclical.)
Pope Francis. Encyclical on Climate Change and Inequality . Melville House. Kindle Edition.
And now for a bit of variety:
