The moral collapse of civilisation A socio-philosophical reflection

Before our very eyes, we are witnessing an unprecedented geopolitical lawlessness, accompanied by the cultural and moral degradation of humanity, which—with rare exceptions—is increasingly ceasing to respond to human pain and suffering. In this context, it seems appropriate to examine the causal thread of these events through the lens of socio-philosophical thought.

Back in the 20th century, the prominent Hungarian philosopher Béla Hamvas, who referred to the historical period he lived through as a “critical time,” predicted the approach of events that would shake all of humanity and serve as a precursor to the Apocalypse. Hamvas linked the root cause of this to the factor of the crowd—devoid of “intelligence and the capacity for sober judgement.” In this regard, he referred to the ideas of 19th–20th century French social psychologist Gustave Le Bon, who described one of the key characteristics of the crowd as its “suggestibility.”

According to Le Bon, crowds are easily led and deceived because even the most intelligent individuals lose their capacity for reason when immersed within them. When people dissolve completely into the mass, they stop seeking objective judgment as their personal self-awareness fades. This leads to a collective readiness to merge into a single soul, which, having lost the ability to think and love, becomes primarily capable of destruction—since the crowd’s task is ultimately the destruction of civilisation.

American philosopher Fredric Jameson describes this stage as the emergence of a “consciousness industry,” which he views as the beginning of the Apocalypse, albeit still a modest and gentle one. In his perspective, this process erases moral and ethical norms from life.

French philosopher and historian Guy Debord further explores this idea by characterising modern life as a proliferation of spectacles, where images blend into an artificial society saturated with boastful lies. This, as philosopher Hamvas notes, results in a spiritual decline of the individual and a diminished capacity for logical thinking.

In this context, Jameson refers to capitalism as a period marked by the waning of the sacred and the spiritual. He argues that one of the market’s primary functions is not the promotion of freedom but its suppression. Market ideology eliminates genuine human decision-making and the possibility of historical thinking. He also uses the concept of pastiche to describe a kind of cultural forgery—an imitation of a dead style of life.

This perspective aligns with the concept of “liquid modernity,” coined by British philosopher and sociologist Zygmunt Bauman. Bauman described this as a compulsive impulse toward constant transformation without any hope of completion—a process resembling a race with no finish line.

Some may recall the scientific concept of tissue engineering—the deliberate creation of tissues and organs with specific properties. This idea can be seen as a metaphor for the role of international intellectual structures, such as think tanks, which supply the world with various military-political, economic, and socio-cultural frameworks, offering ready-made “strategic packages” on these issues.

In a similar way, as noted by the prominent American sociologist Robert Merton, an ideology was skillfully implanted on the global stage that allows individuals and states to bypass social constraints in pursuit of success. When the doctrine that “the ends justify the means” became a dominant principle in professional conduct, it quietly spread into international relations. This has led to the erosion of international law, a phenomenon we witness all around today. Treaties are dismissed as mere “scraps of paper,” and the bombing of civilian populations is given a rational justification—mirroring how, in similar contexts, illegal methods become more common in interpersonal relationships. Merton warned that this situation inevitably leads to a “tendency toward disintegration,” which many see as a path toward the Apocalypse.

How could it be otherwise when, as the influential 20th-century German sociologist and philosopher Erich Fromm argued, a person ultimately becomes alienated from themselves, no longer in control of their own actions?

Similarly, the German-French philosopher and Lutheran theologian Albert Schweitzer described this as the gradual disappearance of an individual’s trust in their own thinking. People begin to accept truths and beliefs imposed by vested organisations that claim authority over them. This prevailing “spirit of the times” prevents individuals from truly coming to themselves. As a result, they become fragmented beings who have lost faith in the possibility of independent thought and are unable to resist this pressure.

Consequently, the individual is forced to accept as true things that they do not understand, with no outlet for their capacity to think freely. This process inevitably leads to spiritual bankruptcy.

Naturally, those who promote this agenda across ideological, political, economic, socio-cultural, and military spheres spare no effort to ensure that people, having abandoned independently discovered truth, instead accept a propagandistic substitute imposed on them with authority.

This situation is captured well by the 20th-century British sociologist and philosopher of Austrian origin, Karl Mannheim, who warned that if society fails to achieve a high level of morality in governance soon, humanity risks perishing due to this imbalance.

While individuals may hold different views on the unfolding events, it is impossible to deny that widespread moral and ethical decay is driving the world toward the abyss. This very path fosters an international environment marked by lawlessness, resulting in tens of thousands of innocent lives lost, many of them victims of hunger.