Everything is nature: there is no such thing as 'nature.' If humans are out of balance with the extra-human world, the answer isn't to get in harmony with 'nature.' Thinking ourselves OUTSIDE of nature, and nature as something OTHER, is the PROBLEM--whether we respond to that delusional 'Other' by trying to dominate and rule over it, or by thinking we can surrender to it and become once again her obedient children.
A toxic dump is every bit as much a product of 'nature' as a pristine wetland. Human culture is no less 'nature' than the society of bees. We begin to address the problem of this perceived imbalance by re-imagining ourselves as having no special place, no privileged ontological address, no special vantage point -- including that assumed when we do science.
Scientists are limited by their need to objectify the object of their investigation. Poets are not. Poets... and perhaps, philosophers, are free to concern themselves with the real in ways science cannot.
No comments:
Post a Comment