Le pays des « passions tristes »

In Colombia, so many conflicts that could have been resolved have ended in war; so many projects that could have been carried out have been lost amidst factional rivalries; so many agreements have failed because of grudges. In short, so many good intentions spoiled by ill-controlled emotions. Social injustice, despotism, oligarchy, administrative incapacity and corruption are at the root of these tragedies, and the studies that show this are numerous. But could Colombia have overcome these obstacles without the outbursts of its political class?

Mauricio García Villegas answers this question as follows: in all societies, there is an internal tension between what Spinoza called, on the one hand, the "sad passions" - hatred, revenge, resentment, envy, fear - and, on the other, the "joyful passions" - benevolence, compassion, respect and sympathy. In Colombia, the balance, especially in the political arena, has tilted heavily towards hatred and vengeance. The author begins his analysis with the discoveries of the "cognitive revolution" to explain the importance of affects in human nature, and concludes with a discussion of evil and an ethical defense of tolerance, and other so-called placid emotions, as possibilities for stemming the violence that has shaken the country for over fifty years.

About the author

Mauricio García Villegas was born in Manizales, Colombia, in 1959. He holds a doctorate in political science from the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium) and an honorary doctorate from the École normale supérieure de Cachan (France). He works as a professor at the Institute of Political Studies and International Relations (IEPRI) of the National University of Colombia, and is also a researcher for Dejusticia and a columnist for the newspaper El Espectador. He is an affiliated professor at the Institute of Legal Studies at the University of Wisconsin (USA) and at the Institute of Political Studies at the University of Grenoble (France).