Arias Maldonado has published Desde las ruinas del futuro. Teoría política de la pandemia (From the Ruins of the Future. Political Theory of the Pandemic), a dialogue for all seasons between the modern Enlightenment and the ancient plague, between the confidence placed in modernity and the fears aroused by the catastrophe that has been triggered by the appearance of  a new coronavirus.

“There is no choice but to get to work”, These are the words that close the latest book by  Manuel Arias Maldonado, an essayist from Malaga. In effect, this new work, titled Desde las ruinas del futuro. Teoría política de la pandemia (From the Ruins of the Future. Political Theory of the Pandemic) reads like a dialogue for all seasons between the modern Enlightenment and the ancient plague, between the confidence we have placed in modernity and the fears aroused by the catastrophe that has been triggered by the appearance of the new virus. It is characteristic of humanity, the author maintains, to sail continually near the cliffs, which leads to the discovery of our fragility as well as our range of possibilities. To get to work, therefore, means recovering what adult life demands as opposed to the puerile frivolity of the new politics or the  naysaying pessimism of the prophets of calamity. Instead of making predictions, Manuel Arias Maldonado invites us to think in a certain key, which is cultivated and informed, mildly melancholy but always hopeful. In this long conversation we speak of all this, without leaving aside technology, the crisis of liberal democracy, and posthuman scenarios.

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