Abstract
Environmental theorists have often considered how best to represent nature's interests. This essay develops an approach to the democratic representation of nonhuman nature by examining the relation between Bruno Latour’s account of representation and that of Thomas Hobbes. Both Hobbes and Latour develop a constructivist theory of representation as an ongoing process that partly constitutes what it represents. In this respect, Latour’s account complements the “constructivist turn” in recent democratic theory, and it suggests a promising avenue for representing nonhumans. However, Latour also follows Hobbes in viewing representation as a matter of unifying and replacing the represented. This aspect of Latour’s approach obscures certain key features of representative democracy in pluralist societies. The last part of the essay takes up an aspect of Hobbes’s theory neglected by Latour, the notion of “representation by fiction,” which suggests a way of representing nonhumans that offers more support for representative democracy than other approaches
Highlights
Environmental theorists have frequently asked who “speaks for nature” or “represents nature’s interests” (Dobson, 1996, 2010; Eckersley, 2000, 2004, 2011; Goodin, 1996; O’Neill, 2001, 2006)
This essay develops an approach to the democratic representation of nonhuman nature by examining the relation between Bruno Latour’s account of representation and that of Thomas Hobbes
Harman goes on to argue that Latour has an ambivalent relation to the Hobbesian tradition, but “his tension with Hobbes is the engine of his entire political philosophy” (Harman, 2014: 19)
Summary
Environmental theorists have frequently asked who “speaks for nature” or “represents nature’s interests” (Dobson, 1996, 2010; Eckersley, 2000, 2004, 2011; Goodin, 1996; O’Neill, 2001, 2006). In Latour’s terminology, representation involves mediation and translation between various spokespersons and the hybrid associations of humans and nonhumans that they represent (Latour, 2004). Echoing Hobbes, Latour portrays representation as a matter of constructing a unified people by authorizing representatives who ideally, substitute for and directly correspond to the people’s collective will.
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