Nature et société : un ancien dualisme pour une situation nouvelle

Abstract

Among sociologists and philosophers now taking into account the interactions between the « social » and the « naturel », in the light of present crises, an anti-dualist position is frequently and strongly invocated. In the case of Bruno Latour, or indeed certain thinkers close to Marxism, such as Jason Moore, it is affirmed that there is not, on the one hand, nature and, on the other hand, society. The intermingling and intrication, it is argued, are too comprehensive for us still to have the luxury of drawing such clear distinctions. Capitalism itself, seen in such a perspective, appears as a way not only to manage nature but also to make it exist and to give it reality. Against this approach, and from the perspective adopted here, it would appear that the critique of capitalism (which today can scarcely avoid granting decisive recognition to global warning) ought rather to recognize the robust postulate of a natural order, whose disruption or, at the very least, hazardous transformation, is provoked by our practices, when they are irrational. In a way, « nature » (which existed before us and, to a large extent, reproduces itself without us) does in effect exist. It is this we should take as our starting-point in order to reason cogently.