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Green Politics and the Concept of Nature: Heidegger, Nature

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Green Politics and the Concept of Nature: Heidegger, Nature Green Politics and the Concept of Nature: Heidegger, Nature and the Earth Reetta Vaahtoranta Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Ph.D. Department of International Politics Aberystwyth University September, 2014 1 Summary This thesis investigates the role that the concept of nature plays in green politics. Nature, in the green literature, is usually assumed to refer to the nonhuman environment. But critics of this way of thinking about nature argue that humans exist in such interconnected networks with their environments that environments cannot be divided into categories of human and nonhuman. These criticisms suggest that we should abandon talking about nature and concentrate instead on investigating the complex relationships we share with our environments. But even in the light of these criticisms the idea of nature does seem to articulate something important about green politics which cannot be communicated by just investigating the relationships that we share with our environments. I turn to the philosophy of Martin Heidegger to make sense of this concept of nature. Heidegger makes numerous references to the unfolding of nature and the earth in his works. His philosophy has thus been used to make sense of what is at stake in taking care of our environments. In mainstream green readings of Heidegger, nature is understood as referring to the spontaneous growth of a nonhuman nature. However, I will approach nature in Heidegger’s work differently, divorcing these concepts of nature and the earth from descriptions of the material growth of nonhuman natural beings. This allows us to understand the importance of the idea of nature in green politics. Paying attention to nature is important not because it allows us to address environmental crisis, but because it allows us to stop thinking that we can represent things through calculations and to think of them as mere resources. This thesis proposes thinking of green politics as having two separate goals, the goal of protecting nature and the goal of protecting the environment. 2 DECLARATION This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not being concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree. Signed ...................................................................... (candidate) Date ........................................................................ STATEMENT 1 This thesis is the result of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated. Where *correction services have been used, the extent and nature of the correction is clearly marked in a footnote(s). Other sources are acknowledged by footnotes giving explicit references. A bibliography is appended. Signed ..................................................................... (candidate) Date ........................................................................ [*this refers to the extent to which the text has been corrected by others] STATEMENT 2 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed ..................................................................... (candidate) Date ........................................................................ NB: Candidates on whose behalf a bar on access has been approved by the University (see Note 9), should use the following version of Statement 2: I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loans after expiry of a bar on access approved by Aberystwyth University. Signed ..................................................................... (candidate) Date ........................................................... 3 Acknowledgements I would like to thank the following people. Hidemi Suganami, my primary supervisor, for his careful reading of this thesis and his detailed, thoughtful feedback. Carl Death and Richard Beardsworth who have also supervised the thesis for their helpful comments and ideas which have been crucial to shaping this thesis. Richard Stevenson, for this help with style and use of the English language, and Iain Wilson for valuable proofreading. 4 Contents List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................................. 9 Apples .................................................................................................................................. 11 Green Political Thought ....................................................................................................... 13 Approaches .......................................................................................................................... 18 Limits ................................................................................................................................... 25 Thesis Structure ................................................................................................................... 28 Chapter One: Green Politics and Nature .................................................................................. 32 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 32 Green Thought ..................................................................................................................... 33 Rules-based Approach ..................................................................................................... 37 Experience-based Approach ............................................................................................ 42 Social Construction of Nature .............................................................................................. 49 Discursive Mediation of Knowledge ............................................................................... 49 The Production of Nature ................................................................................................. 54 Hybrid Accounts .................................................................................................................. 59 Introduction to Hybridity ................................................................................................. 59 Green Accounts of Hybridity ........................................................................................... 64 Hybridity and Nature ........................................................................................................... 70 5 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 73 Chapter Two: Heidegger and Green Politics: An Initial Interpretation ................................... 74 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 74 Heidegger’s Question of Being ............................................................................................ 76 Being and Time .................................................................................................................... 80 Truth and History ................................................................................................................. 91 Technological Thinking ..................................................................................................... 102 Dwelling ............................................................................................................................. 107 Heidegger and Green Thinking .......................................................................................... 116 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 126 Chapter Three: Heidegger’s Nature ....................................................................................... 128 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 128 Language ............................................................................................................................ 131 Heidegger on Phusis and Nature ........................................................................................ 133 Heidegger and the Earth ..................................................................................................... 141 Dwelling in the Fourfold .................................................................................................... 151 Homeland and Dwelling Ground ....................................................................................... 155 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 164 Chapter Four: Phusis, Politics and Letting Be ....................................................................... 167 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 167 Protecting Beings ............................................................................................................... 170 6 Heidegger, National Socialism and Politics ....................................................................... 173 Shift in Questioning Polis .................................................................................................
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