Biodiversity: Ethics and Aesthetics in the decentralization of the human in deep ecology and vital materialism
DOI :
https://doi.org/10.61378/t4csjq27Mots-clés :
Intrinsic Value, Environmental Ethics, Environmental Aesthetics, Biodiversity ConservationRésumé
This paper analyzes the differences and, above all, a possible dialogue between the environmental ethics of Arne Naess's deep ecology and Jane Bennett's vital materialism, emphasizing the aesthetics that emerge from the relationship between humans, non-human animals, and planetary biodiversity. This approach uses the concepts of Delight (Naess) and Enchantment (Bennett), which play a crucial role in reshaping the hierarchical relationship humans have with animals, as discussed by both authors. For Arne Naess, Delight emerges from a change in thinking and moral values, forging an ethics that understands animals and the environment as having intrinsic value, thus allowing the pleasure of contemplating and relating to non-humans to flow. In Bennett, on the other hand, the concept of Enchantment is more central to her environmental ethics, as she understands that ethical values can emerge from the sharpening of sensory perception of how encounters with animals can affect humans. Although Delight stems from ethics rooted in human cognition and Enchantment comes before ethics, combining both perspectives creates a more realistic notion of intrinsic value with a more substantial impact on the ethical justification for biodiversity conservation.
Références
ARETOULAKIS, E. “Towards a Posthumanist Ecology: Nature without Humanity in Wordsworth and Shelley.” European Journal of English Studies, v. 18, n. 2, p. 172-190, 2014.
BARATELA, D.F. “Environmental ethics and the protection of animal rights.” Brazilian Journal of Animal Law. v. 9, n. 16, p. 73-93, jun/jul. 2014.
BENNETT, J; KHAN, G.A. “Vital Materiality and non-human agency: an interview with Jane Bennett.” In: BROWNING, G.; PROKHOVNIK, R.; DIMOVA-COOKSON, M. (Org.). Dialogues with Contemporary Political Theorists. Palgrave-Macmillan, 2012. p. 42-57.
BENNETT, J. “Systems and things: A response to Graham Harman and Timothy Morton.” New Literary History, Baltimore, v. 43, n. 2, p. 225-233, 2012.
________. Vibrant matter: A political ecology of things. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2010.
________. The enchantment of modern life: Attachments, crossings, and ethics. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001.
BRAIDOTTI, R. The Posthuman. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013.
BREIVIK, G. “What Would a Deep Ecological Sport Look Like? The Example of Arne Naess.” Journal of the Philosophy of Sport. v. 46, n. 1, p. 63-81, 2019.
COLE, D.; MALONE, K. “Environmental Education and Philosophy in the Anthroponece.” Australian Journal of Environmental Education. v. 35, p. 157-162, 2019.
CUDWORTH, E.; HOBDEN, S. “Liberation for Straw Dogs? Old Materialism, New Materialism, and the Challenge of an Emancipatory Posthumanism.” Globalizations, v. 12, n. 1, p. 134-148, 2015.
________. “Complexity, Ecologism and Posthuman Politics.” Review of International Studies, v. 39, n. 3, p. 643-664, 2013.
DELEUZE, Gilles. “Spinoza: Cours Vincennes.” Les Cours de Gilles Deleuze, 1978. Accessed on May 5, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20080414220914/http://www.webdeleuze.com/php/texte.php?cle=194&groupe=Spinoza&langue=5
DELONG JR., D. C. “Defining Biodiversity.” Wildlife Society Bulletin, v. 24, n. 4, p. 733-749, 1996.
FERRANDO, F. “Posthumanism, Transhumanism, Antihumanism, Metahumanism, and New Materialisms: Differences and Relations.” Existenz. v. 8, n. 2, p. 26-32, 2013.
FRANCO, J.L.A. “The Concept of Biodiversity and the History of Conservation Biology: from Wilderness Preservation to Biodiversity Conservation.” História. v. 32, n. 2, p. 21-48, 2013.
FREDENGREN, C. “Nature Cultures: Heritage, Sustainability and Feminist Posthumanism.” Current Swedish Archaeology, v. 23, p. 109-130, 2015.
GAMBLE, C.N.; HANAN, J.S.; NAIL, T. “What is New Materialism?” Angelaki. v. 24, n. 6, p. 111-134, 2019.
GOUGH, A. “Working With/In/Against More-Than-Human Environmental Sustainability Education.” On Education: Journal for Research and Debate, v. 1, n. 2, p. 1-5, 2018.
JONGE, E. Spinoza and Deep Ecology: Challenging Traditional Approaches to Environmentalism. Routledge, 2004.
KABADAYI, C.; OSVATH, M. “Ravens Parallel Great Apes in Flexible Planning for Tool-Use and Bartering.” Science. v. 357, n. 6347, p. 202-204, 2017.
LUPTON, D. “Vital Materialism and the Thing-Power of Lively Digital Media.” In: LEAHY, D.; FITZPATRICK, K.; WRIGHT, J. (Org.). Social Theory, Health, and Education. London: Routledge, 2018.
MALONE, K. et al. “Shimmering with Deborah Rose: Posthuman Theory-Making with Feminist Ecophilosophers and Social Ecologists.” Australian Journal of Environmental Education. v. 36, n. 2, p. 129-145, 2020.
MARCHESINI, Roberto. Over the Human: Post-humanism and the Concept of Animal Epiphany. Spriger, 2017.
McSHANE, K. “Is biodiversity intrinsically valuable? (And what might that mean?).” In: GARSON, J.; PLUTYNSKI, A.; SARKAR, S. (Org.). The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Biodiversity. London and New York: Routledge, 2017. p. 155-167.
NAESS, A.; JICKLING, B. “Deep Ecology and Education: A Conversation with Arne Naess.” Canadian Journal of Environmental Education (CJEE). v. 5, n. 1, p. 48-62, 2000.
NAESS, A. Ecology, Community, and Lifestyle: Outline of an Ecosophy. Cambridge University Press, 1989.
________. “Environmental Ethics and Spinoza’s Ethics. Comments on Genevieve Lloyd’s article.” Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy. v. 23, n. 3, p. 313-325, march. 1980.
________. “Self-Realization in Mixed Communities of Human Beings, Bears, Sheep, and
Wolves.” Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy. v. 22, n. 1-4, p. 231-241, 1979.
________. “Spinoza and Ecology.” In: HESSING, Siegfried. Speculum Spinozanum: 1677-1977. London: Routledge, 1977.
NATIONS, J.D. “Deep Ecology Meets the Developing World.” In: WILSON, Edward O. Biodiversity. Washington: National Academy Press, 1988.
NEFF, I. “Vital and Enchanted: Jane Bennett and New Materialism for Nursing Philosophy and Practice.” Nursing Philosophy, v. 21, n. 2, p. e122-173, July. 2019.
NIEDER, A.; WAGENER, L.; RINNERT, P. “A Neural Correlate of Sensory Consciousness in a Corvid Bird.” Science. v. 369, n. 6511, p. 1626-1629, 2020.
ROSUMEK, F.B.; MARTINS, R.P. “Ecology, Philosophy and Conservation.” Nature & Conservation. v. 8, n. 1, 87-89, 2010.
ROTH, G.; DICKE, U. “Evolution of Cognitive Brains: Mammals.” In: WATANABE, S.; HOFMAN, M.A.; SHIMIZU, T. (Org.). Evolution of the Brain, Cognition, and Emotion in Vertebrates. Brain Science. Tokyo: Springer Japan, 2017. p. 125–146.
SARKAR, S. “Approaches to Biodiversity.” In: GARSON, J.; PLUTYNSKI, A.; SARKAR, S. (Org.). The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Biodiversity. London and New York: Routledge, 2017.
________. Biodiversity and Environmental Philosophy: An Introduction. Cambridge University Press, 2005.
SIMONDON, G.; KECHICKIAN, A. “Save the Technical Object. Interview with Gilbert Simondon.” Esprit, n. 76, p. 147-52, 1983. Accessed on November 5, 2015. https://philosophyofinformationandcommunication.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/gilbert-simondon-save-the-technical-object.pdf
SHAVIRO, S. The Universe of Things: On Speculative Realism. London: University of Minnesota Press, 2014.
SMAERS, J.B.; TURNER, A.H.; GÓMEZ-ROBLES, A.; SHERWOOD, C.C. “A cerebellar substrate for cognition evolved multiple times independently in mammals.” eLife, v. 7, p. 1-19, 2018.
SMITH, T.S.J. Sustainability, Wellbeing and the Posthuman Turn. Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.
SOULÉ, M.E. Collected Papers of Michael E. Soulé: Early Years in Modern Conservation Biology. Washington: Island Press, 2014.
THOMPSON, P.B. “Environmentalism and Posthumanism.” Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism, v. 21, n 2, p. 63-73, 2013.
WATSON, J. “Eco-Sensibilities: an Interview with Jane Bennett.” The Minnesota Review, v. 81, p. 147-158, 2013.
WILSON, E. O. “The Current States of Biological Diversity.” In: WILSON, E.O (Org.). Biodiversity. Washington: National Academy Press, 1988.
