Dark Ecology Between Discourse and Otherness

Abstract

In contrast to the more popular interpretations of Timothy Morton’s dark ecology as one more example of speculative realism, the article suggests regarding it argue as a special case of Jacques Derrida’s deconstruction. By examining Morton’s earlier writing, the author demonstrates that it extends the deconstructionist structure of argumentation by criticizing ecological discourse in order to justify dark ecology. Derrida revealed the violent structure of writing as the basis of the logocentric myth, and Morton has similarly shown that the Romantic idea of a harmonious Nature came about as a result of the consumerism of the privileged classes in modern industrial society. Explication of this connection exposes limitations that are significant for dark ecology in Morton’s interpretation of Derrida, which ignores Derrida’s criticism of various attempts to emancipate otherness. Examination of Derrida’s texts shows that they do not deconstruct logocentrism but argue against the alternatives offered by Michel Foucault and Emmanuel Levinas. Deconstruction therefore continues to operate symmetrically on them. From a similar viewpoint, Morton’s use of dark metaphors appears unjustified because it does not recognize the possibility of deconstructing darkness rather than light. However, Derrida’s solution - his concept of the democracy to come - is incompatible with Morton’s resort to the concept of a hyperobject. Morton’s ecology should instead be read as a theoretical language, indifferent to the dichotomy between light and darkness and descriptive of a new democracy, the distinctive feature of which is the inevitable proximity of the Other.