Unfurling western notions of nature and Amerindian alternatives

El Zent

doi:10.3354/esep00159

Abstract

ESEP Ethics in Science and Environmental Politics Contact the journal RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections ESEP 15:105-123 (2015) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/esep00159 Unfurling western notions of nature and Amerindian alternatives Egleé L. Zent* Laboratory of Human Ecology, Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research (IVIC) Altos de Pipe, Ado 20632, Venezuela *Corresponding author: egleelzent@gmail.com ABSTRACT: This essay presents an overview of the concept of ‘nature’. It provides some reflections on the heterogeneity of notions and values subsumed in the term nature in a portion of the Western tradition (from Ancient Greece-Rome through the Middle Ages and the Enlightenment to the present day). The paper explores, in a diachronic, non-comprehensive fashion, the various connotations and conceptions given to the term nature, highlighting the socio-ecological risks that occur when ecological notions are extrapolated worldwide as if they were standard ones. It also reveals that such philosophical plurality is a historical as well as a contemporary phenomenon. The heterogeneity of notions in Western and Amerindian traditions should, ideally, be linked to pragmatic strategies geared toward the construction of improved contemporary environmental ethics. KEY WORDS: Environmental ethics · Nature-society · Biocultural conservation · Biocultural diversity · Philosophy of science Full text in pdf format Cite this article as: Zent EL (2015) Unfurling western notions of nature and Amerindian alternatives. Ethics Sci Environ Polit 15:105-123. https://doi.org/10.3354/esep00159 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in ESEP Vol. 15, No. 2. Online publication date: October 02, 2015 Print ISSN: 1863-5415; Online ISSN: 1611-8014 Copyright © 2015 Inter-Research.

Highlights

This inference has been legitimated only recently, it is not utopian to conceive that heterogeneity of logics and ethics may offer potential alternatives to alleviate the current environmental crisis through the construction of sounder and up-to-date life ethics
Anthropocentric environmental ethics were consolidated during this historical period as the influences of Western Europe spread worldwide
A concrete lesson is to join efforts to create an ethic that encourages horizontal communications among and with different lifestyles and cultures and increases awareness of responsible and committed actors to configure scenarios to optimize, repair and value life on earth. These cases demonstrate the status of Amazonian peoples as creative agents in the composition, structure and dynamics of the forests that they have occupied for centuries

Summary

INTRODUCTION

The notion of natura associated with ‘ratio seminals’ or the generative or germinator principle (seminal, invisible, interminable power that generates and reproduces) belonged to Aristotle’s traditions and was adopted by many medieval thinkers including Saint Thomas and Saint Agustin Such a doctrine allowed theologists to associate the idea of species essentialism (fixed entities) with mutability and change of appearances Anthropocentric environmental ethics were consolidated during this historical period as the influences of Western Europe spread worldwide (mid15th to early 19th centuries) It was a time of much cultural movement known as the Scientific Revolution, which called into question the amalgamation of magic, alchemy, astrology, abstraction and experimentation. The artificiality of this division has gradually become less pronounced, and currently more comprehensive approaches interdigitate the academic landscape, such as the inclusion of humans in energy flow, nutrient cycling and biogeochemical studies, or the acceptance of human ecology or integrated biology laboratories (see for instance Lunds Universite or University of California at Berkeley), as well as the requirement of incorporating human dimensions in what used to be biological studies (see Global Environmental Fund, www.globalenvironmentfund.com, or Inter-American Foundation, www.iaf.gov/index. aspx?page=96)

A CALL FOR NEW ETHICS

Findings

CONCLUDING NOTES