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Down to Earth Ethics: Exploring Relation and Environmental Responsibility Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 2013 Down to Earth Ethics: Exploring Relation and Environmental Responsibility Matthew Gowans Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss Part of the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Gowans, Matthew, "Down to Earth Ethics: Exploring Relation and Environmental Responsibility" (2013). Dissertations. 517. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/517 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 2013 Matthew Gowans LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO DOWN TO EARTH ETHICS: EXPLORING RELATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY PROGRAM IN THEOLOGY BY MATTHEW GOWANS CHICAGO, IL MAY 2013 Copyright by Matthew Gowans, 2013. All rights reserved TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT vi INTRODUCTION 1 Objective and Method of the Dissertation 4 Contribution of the Dissertation 6 CHAPTER ONE: NATURE AND WESTERN THOUGHT 8 Nature and the Early Western Perspective 8 The Intellectualization of Nature 8 Nature and the God-Centered Universe 15 Nature and Modernity 26 Modernity and Humanism 26 Modernity and Mechanism 32 Modernity and Nature’s Utility 38 Modernity and Natural Magic 44 Conclusion 56 CHAPTER TWO: ALBERT SCHWEITZER AND REVERENCE FOR LIFE 58 Schweitzer’s Metaphysical Outlook 62 Christianity and the Kingdom of God 62 Schweitzer’s World Optimism 65 Reality is Will 67 Mysticism and the Limitations of Philosophy and Science 70 Schweitzer’s Epistemological Approach 77 Rooted in Rationalism 77 Fusing Mind and Heart 79 Arriving at Reverence for Life 83 Universalizing Reverence 85 Ethical Mysticism and Unity with Being 87 The Ethical Significance of Schweitzer’s Reverence for Life 90 An Ethics Based on Relationship and Action 90 The Challenge of the Ego and Elitism 93 The Challenge of Ethical Feasibility 96 The Challenge of Excessive Guilt 99 The Challenge of Pantheism 100 Schweitzer’s Evolving Thought 102 Conclusion 107 iii CHAPTER THREE: MARTIN BUBER AND I-THOU 109 Buber’s Metaphysical Outlook 111 The I-Thou Encounter 111 Hasidism and the Problem of Evil 118 The Eternal Thou 121 Ethics and the Kingdom of God 123 Buber’s Epistemological Approach 125 The Inborn Thou 125 Genuine Dialogue and Knowledge 127 Realization and the Role of Reason 131 Symbolism and the I-Thou 133 The Ethical Significance of Buber’s I-Thou Encounter 137 An Ethics Rooted in the Tangible World 137 Taoism and Non-Action 141 The Challenge of Biased Love 144 The Challenge of Pantheism 148 The Challenge of Personification 150 Conclusion 156 CHAPTER FOUR: LEOPOLD AND THE LAND ETHIC 158 Leopold’s Metaphysical Outlook 160 Land the True Reality 160 Citizenship in the Land Community 163 The Ontological, Cultural, and Religious Significance of Land 167 The Illusion of Modern Progress 171 Leopold’s Epistemological Approach 172 Childlike Investigation 172 Empiricism and the Limits of Science 174 The Presence of Wonder and Awe 177 Standing in Relation to Land 183 The Ethical Significance of Leopold’s Thought 188 An Ethic Grounded in Studied Relation 188 Evolution of the Ecological Conscience 191 The Challenge of Anthropocentrism and Biocentrism 195 The Challenge of Personification 198 Conclusion 201 CHAPTER FIVE: SCHWEITZER, BUBER, LEOPOLD AND THE GARDEN 204 Schweitzer, Buber, and Leopold’s Unified Voice 206 Indispensable Sensation of wonder 206 iv Mystery in a Modern World 210 The Moral Significance of Relation 214 An Argument for Engaged Practices 218 Cultivation as a Way into Praxis 220 The Garden Mystery 220 Ethics and the Gardener 223 From the Garden to Environmental Ethics 230 Exercising Dominion Over Inherently Valuable Life 236 Ecological Ethics and the Principle of Sacrifice 241 Conclusion 245 BIBLIOGRAPHY 251 VITA 259 v ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the question of direct engagement with the natural world as a way of establishing certain moral and ontological truths, truths that can be important for addressing ecological challenges. I first attempt to demonstrate the obstacles that an ethics built upon relational encounters faces in the modern West by considering the practical and ideological factors that structure our current views and relationships with the natural world. I argue that the problem is not necessarily a cosmopolitan lifestyle, but a modern worldview that has adopted the objectification of the earth and its living entities, a view which has obstructed our awareness of values in the natural world. To challenge this predominant worldview, I draw on the works of Albert Schweitzer, Martin Buber, and Aldo Leopold which demonstrate an ethics that is relational in nature, action oriented, and bound up in the mystery of life and being. They support the proposition that the heart of ethical responsibility in general, and the motive to care for nature in particular, are caught up in the unfathomable puzzle of relation. The implications of this for environmental ethics are profound and I spell these out. If these three authors are correct, today’s science, philosophy, and religious dialogue need to be supplemented with engaged encounters with life. In the final section I consider gardening, small farming, and ecosystem restoration projects as practical methods for realizing the ethical and ontological boons that these thinkers envisioned. vi INTRODUCTION Winona LaDuke, a Native American and Harvard graduate, has made the bold assertion that the only sustainable ways of living upon this earth are indigenous ways.1 She bases her claim upon the premise that indigenous cultures abide by a “natural law,” a way of life that engenders relationship, reciprocity, and gratitude. Similarly, Audrey Shenandoah, Clan Mother of the Onondaga Nation in New York, has stressed that indigenous peoples of the world have a “basic principle of respect, a deep love for the land, a very real connection, a relationship to all of those elements that are mentioned in [their] thanksgiving.”2 These authors, uniting their voices with others, believe that the modern world is out of step with a natural order, something which has both led to our current environmental problems and frustrated our efforts to solve them. Reflection on these views reminds us to be wary of romanticization. Indigenous ways have never been easy, convenient, or glamorous, nor are such communities a future 1 Winona LaDuke, “Voices from White Earth” in Susan Armstrong and Richard Botzler Environmental Ethics: Divergence & Convergence, 248. 2 See Audrey Shanendoa’s keynote address at the fall 1990 “Spirit and Nature” symposium at Middlebury College, reprinted in Steven Rockefeller and John Elder work Spirit and Nature: Why the Environment is a religious Issue, 20. 1 2 likelihood for modern humans.3 Yet, honest reflection should also cause us to stop and consider: In what meaningful way do we encounter nonhuman life today? Certainly not in the meat or produce sections of the local market. By the time nature reaches the aisles of the grocery store, it confronts us not as living being, but as an object, a commodity of consumption. Our relationship with the natural world is secondary, mediated by city life and technology.4 Urbanization and a division of labor into narrow tasks and disciplines has successfully replaced subsistence living for exchange economies which demand specialization. The tradeoff has been one way of life defined by intimate contact with living things for another defined by modern convenience and security. From this perspective, one would be hard pressed to say that the trade has not been worth it. It means we have climate controlled environments, inoculations against disease, refrigeration and plumbing. It means literacy rates have increased and mortality rates have decreased. And yet, indigenous peoples the world over, despite these obvious benefits, declare that modern civilization has lost something basic to human nature. Could today’s estrangement from the living world deprive us of something real and 3 There is also the debate that indigenous cultures like the Native Americans were simply less empowered to do damage to their environment, and that they would have given greater technological advancements. It is not my intention to engage this debate. It can be safely said, however, that many such groups like the Lokota, the Salish-speaking people and the Mistassini Cree have developed complex myths and rituals to maintain respect for the earth the living things on it. While these people had the knowledge and skill to exploit their resources, the myths and rituals they believed in regulated hunting practices so as not to overtax animal populations. Refer to David Kinsley’s text Ecology and Religion, chapters 1-4. See also John A. Grim, “Native North American Worldviews and Ecology,” in Worldviews and Ecology, 41-54. 4 Martin Heideggar, “The Question Concerning Technology,” in Martin Heidegger: Basic Writings, 283-317. 3 important? Referring to the respect and obligation the Lakota Indians felt for living things, Luther Standing Bear wrote the following nearly eighty years ago: This concept of life and its relations was humanizing and gave to the Lakota an abiding love. It filled his being with the joy and mystery of living; it gave him reverence for all life; it made a place for all things in the scheme of existence with equal importance to all.... In spirit the Lakota was humble and meek.... His religion was sane, normal, and human.5 Standing Bear’s reference to nature’s humanizing effect is particularly noteworthy. It suggests that direct engagement with natural world and the ethical life are interconnected. Recent studies have suggested that Standing Bear’s observation was not misplaced.
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