Planet Local Voices II with Mattias Desmet

Mattias Desmet is a professor of clinical psychology in the Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences at Ghent University (Belgium), a practicing psychoanalytic psychotherapist, and author of The Psychology of Totalitarianism.

In this episode of Planet Local Voices II, Mattias explains how the poly-crises roiling the world today ultimately stem from a metaphysical crisis, a "de-souling" of the world produced by a rationalism in Western science that lost sight of its own limitations. Excessive rationalism, he argues, is actually deeply irrational, and the socio-ecological breakdowns we are witnessing today, in many cases produced by the most advanced science applied to technology, are a clear illustration of this. Unless subordinated to deeper values and ethics, science and rationalism will continue to lead the world to ruin.

Mattias also argues that the fading of local exchange, craft and economy have contributed to the psychological crises of loneliness and meaninglessness. Accordingly, rebuilding local, grassroots economies are vital to repairing peoples' sense of meaning, purpose and mattering.