Disinstallation

The typically European penchant to abstract oneself from one’s own framework without denying one’s traditions — doing so for the sake of curiosity, conquest, and adventure.

‘Disinstallation’ (désinstallation), this neologism coined by Robert Steuckers, is neither a form of deracination nor of nomadism. It motivated Europe’s colonial era, but eventually turned against Europe: the spirit of disinstallation needs to be reoriented today. A good example of this is the conquest of space, whose inspiration is purely European.

The bourgeois spirit is simultaneously cosmopolitan and ‘installed’, while the aristocratic spirit is both enrooted and disinstalled. Disinstallation is a Faustian and Promethean mark of European culture. Conquests, scientific discoveries, and explorations are examples of disinstallation. Through atavism, the majority of other cultures live a static enrootment, while European enrootment has always been dynamic, disinstalled, and accustomed to the idea of movement.

(see enrootment; Promethean)