From Disaster to Disaster. What can we learn from them?[De catastrophe en catastrophe. Quelles leçons en tirer ?]

Environmental destructions. Recurring financial crises. Health scandals. The abandonment of vulnerable people to their fate… How can we explain that modern societies allow so many avoidable disasters to occur? And this despite the horror of accidents and the implementation of numerous protective measures. Untangling this paradox is essential to helping those who recognize dangers and try to counter them. Five case studies are devoted to the chains of events that lead to disasters. For each case, a fictional film helps to uncover the political, social, economic, and psychological factors at play. Then, drawing on published works and documentary sources, the investigation compares the processes identified through the films with reality. The same explanations for disasters reappear case after case, revealing the fundamentally catastrophic mechanisms of modern societies. The opposition between two ways of thinking in the face of uncertainty and danger plays a significant role in the explanation. From one disaster to the next, the same weaknesses of prudence or practical wisdom, in the philosophical sense, reappear in the face of the modern style of thought that has been more and more dominant since the 17th century. Yet, prudence is better suited to guiding action in the face of uncertainty and danger. The investigation also shows how various interest groups, particularly economic ones, systematically exploit the weaknesses of prudence to hinder protective measures and obtain immediate private gains, thus contributing to significant damage. At the conclusion of the investigation, the book offers original avenues for reflection on how to address the root causes and halt the accumulation of disasters.