From ‘even if there is no god’ to ‘even if there is no man’: pro absurdo hypotheses between modern age and the age of ecological transition

This article surveys texts, documentaries, video clips exploring a range of pro absurdo hypotheses elaborated between the modern age and the age of ecological transition. A pro absurdo hypothesis is a claim designed to exaggerate its significance, either because it is deemed unacceptable in the spirit of the times or because it is inconsistent with established knowledge. The modern age has produced models and ways of thinking that are regarded as valid “even if there is no God” (etsi Deus non daretur), while the postmodern and ecological transition age is nowadays hypothesizing what the world and nature would be even if there were no humans (etsi homo non daretur) or if humans had never existed. Both these periods have frequently constructed these hypotheses on the hypothetical linguistic structure “even if.”