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Home , Late modern period

ANTROPOlógicas 2011, nº 12, 2-8

On the Origins of Late : Environmentalism and the construction of a critical global consciousness

Nathan Young Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Ottawa [email protected]

Victor M.P. Da Rosa Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Ottawa [email protected]

Jean Lapointe Professor, Faculty of , Saint Paul University [email protected]

Abstract This paper argues that environmentalism as a worldview has played an important and often underappreciated role in the transition from early to . Specifically, we posit that environmentalism was one of the first discourses to directly challenge early modernist ‘grand narratives’ about progress, predictability, and the triumph of humanity over , and to establish competing narratives about globalism, uncertainty, cosmopolitanism, and scepticism of authority. In helping to establish and legitimize these themes, environmentalism has shaped modern in ways that go well beyond specific environmental issues.

Keywords: Late Modernity; environmentalism; critical global consciousness

Resumo Neste estudo, defende-se que o ambientalismo (environmentalism) como cosmovisão desempenhou um papel central, e por vezes subestimado, na transição entre a primeira fase inicial da modernidade e a assim denominada “modernidade avançada”. Propôe-se que o ambientalismo foi um das primeiras abordagens teóricas que contes- tou os “grands récits” da primeira modernidade no que toca ao progresso, à historicidade e ao triunfo do Homem sobre a Natureza. Da mesma maneira, estabeleceram-se “récits” alternativos sobre a globalização, a insegurança, o cosmopolitanismo e a autoridade.

Palavras-chave: Modernidade avançada; ambientalismo; consciência crítica global

1. Introduction well. The late modern period is generally understood to be a more complex time, where long-held beliefs A staple of contemporary social theory is that the and ‘grand narratives’ about progress, predictability, current historical moment – that of modernity – has and identity have come under pressure, and new ideas gone through more than one phase or stage. Promin- about cosmopolitanism, relativism, risk, and global- ent scholars such as Anthony Giddens, Ulrich Beck, ism have become prominent. and Zigmunt Bauman have argued that we ought to Any singular explanation of how and why this tran- distinguish between an early and a late modern per- sition has occurred is bound to be incomplete. Vari- iod (although the label for the latter sometimes varies ous theorists have focused on changes in the econ- to high modernity, reflexive modernity, or the sudden- omy (Bell, 1976; Lash and Urry, 1987); in politics, both ly-unfashionable term postmodernity). There is much with respect to the collapse of (Held et continuity across the early and late modern periods, al.,1999) and the emergence of more reflexive or self- for example the predominant trends toward ever- critical grassroots politics (Beck 1992); in , refined rationalization, calculation, and disenchant- namely the rise of digital and communi- ment, which Weber argued characterized his cation (Castells, 2000); and in , at the turn of the twentieth century and continue un- with regard to the emergence of relativism as the abated today (particularly in the spheres of economy predominant critique of the modernist worldview and politics). But there are important differences as (Rosenau, 1992). In this article, we argue that environ- 3 mentalism has also played an important and often als that established the modern state (most notably underappreciated role in this transition. We are not the the ). Similar debate surrounds the first to make this argument, as Beck (1992) uses pub- emergence of modern environmentalism. While many lic and state responses to environmental degradation have long traditions of environmental respect to illustrate the emergence of reflexivity and its chal- and engagement, particularly in animistic or totemis- lenge to formal rationalization and presumptions of tic , these ideas entered the modern Western linear and cumulative progress. In contrast with Beck, consciousness indirectly (for example, through Rous- who places degradation at the core of his argument – seau’s writings on the State of Nature). arguing that changes to the environment then prompt Several scholars have argued that Western environ- social and political change – we take a step back and mentalism is in fact a direct consequence of mod- suggest that environmentalism as a set of ideas about ernity (Cronon, 1995; McCormick, 1995). One of the the natural world has profoundly shaped the world- earliest forms of organized environmental advocacy view of what we now call late modernity. Essential to was the preservationist movement, which, according our argument is a broadening what is generally meant to Macnaghten and Urry (1998), “was a [romantic] by environmentalism. Whereas most conceptualiza- Victorian reaction against the Enlightenment mental- tions of environmentalism are tied to an identity or a ity which assumed that nature was to be improved behaviour, as in to be an environmentalist or to behave through human and interference.” In particu- environmentally, a broader view of environmentalism lar, the preservationist movement reacted against the sees it as a set of propositions, assumptions, and ac- spread of industry and urban development, arguing cepted “conventional wisdom” – in other words, as a that built environments were unnatural and artificial discourse – that extends throughout the social world spaces that blighted God’s majestic natural and wild and affects even those who are not committed to an landscapes (Cronon, 1995). These ideas resonated environmentalist identity. Yearley (2003) argues that with many members of the intelligentsia, despite worsening global environmental degradation, and were instrumental in establishing national parks environmentalism should be considered the most suc- and other protected ‘wilderness areas’ in Europe and cessful in human (rivalled North America. only by the feminist and movements) While preservationism made some clear gains in given that it is now impossible to publicly adopt an establishing a “fragility of nature” narrative, a second anti-environment stance. The fact that even the most competing philosophical approach rose to prominence polluting companies and irresponsible governments in the early that was expressly modern- try to cloak themselves in green rhetoric is testament ist in orientation. This movement, labelled conserva- to the discursive (if not substantive) success of en- tionism, sought to impose limits on development and vironmentalism as a narrative and worldview. the exploitation of natural resources so that they may In the following, we argue that environmentalism be “conserved” for use. Generally speaking, has foreshadowed, prompted, and reinforced many of conservationsim draws on a rational and scientific the key political and cultural changes involved in the view of the environment, namely “a utilitarian de- transition from early to late modernity. First we outline sire to regulate nature through rational and efficient the history of contemporary Western environmental- ” (Macnaghten and Urry, 1998, p. 34). ism and argue that rising environmental awareness in In a sense, conservationism significantly expanded the mid 20th century represented a strong challenge to the environmental narrative. While preservationism core early-modernist principles. We then discuss how sought to protection ‘special’ places – areas that were the environmentalist worldview moved from the frin- to be set apart and protected from the march of human ges to the mainstream in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s and progress – conservationism sought the management laid the groundwork for the emerging late modernist of ‘productive’ environments based on the under- consciousness. Finally, we discuss how environment- standing that natural resources were not inexhaust- alism reinforces many of the key themes of late mod- ible. Conservationism, however, has proven difficult ernism in the , including globalism, uncer- to implement. The idea of rational management im- tainty, cosmopolitanism, time-space compression, and plies a certain hubris with respect to human capaci- scepticism of authority. ties to know and predict the natural environment, and reflected early modernist assumptions that were the anointed custodians and masters of the nat- 2. Environmentalism as a Challenge ural world. The incompleteness of scientific know- to the Early Modernist Worldview: ledge and inability of governments to prevent eco- Preservationism, Conservationism, logical degradation would later become key themes in and Catastrophic Change a new environmentalism. While both preservationism and conservationism The beginnings of Western modernity are not alto- opened up new perspectives on nature, neither could gether clear, and have been variously located at the be described as a worldview. Kearney’s (1984, p. 10) period of the European Enlightenment (17th century), classic definition of worldview is as “a set of images the (17th and 18th ), the Industrial and assumptions about the world … that constitute Revolution (18th and 19th ), and the political upheav- ‘macro-thought’”, or “an abstract structure of know- 4 ledge that people use as the [primary] means of organ- Carson painted a picture of a world in mortal danger, izing what they know” (Grunig and White, 1992, p. a danger systematically and cynically produced by the 33). According to Macnaghten and Urry (1998, p. 37), greed and self-interest of the pesticides industry. Even “preservationism [was] less a critique of moderniza- more significant was the diagnosis that these ‘elixirs of tion in the face of tradition, and more a ‘modernist’ death’ were a direct by-product of the post-war zeal for concern to regulate boundaries, especially between modernization and technological improvement. While town and country, settlement and wilderness” (see previous concerns had centred on the aesthetics of sub- also Cronon, 1995). While conservationism broadened , or local pollution incidents, or the loss of the scope of environmental discourse and manage- particular habitats, Carson’s critique centred on a rep- ment, its instrumentalist approach to nature was con- resentation of nature as systematically threatened by servative rather than radical and aimed to extend and modern industrial processes. reinforce state managerial power over the whole of their territory (Young, 2008, p. 8). In other words, both Carson’s message was soon joined by other “proph- movements can be understood as products of their ets of doom” such as Paul Ehrlich (on world popula- time that reflected rather than challenged dominant tion growth), Garret Hardin (on “the tragedy of the ways of thinking. commons”), and Barry Commoner (on pollution and Beginning in the mid-twentieth century, however, toxins), each of whom shone light on serious global- the environmental narrative began to shift away from scale environmental problems during the 1960s and the early modernist mould. Importantly, these chan- 1970s. ges allowed environmentalism to become more of a The transformation of environmentalism into a worldview, to become an interpretive prism or ‘pri- worldview was also facilitated by the emergence of mary means of organizing’ people’s thoughts about the new of ecology, which provided a lan- the world. This transition is described by McCormick guage for criticizing industrial development and for (1995, p. 56) as follows: linking local and global environmental issues. The basic idea behind ecology – that organisms be stud- If preservationism had been a moral crusade centred ied in their environment and in relation to other liv- on the non-human environment, and conservationism a ing things – is an old notion that can be traced back to utilitarian movement based on the rational management Aristotle (McIntosh, 1985, p. 10). But while ecology’s of natural resources, New Environmentalism addressed subject matter is not revolutionary, its attention to con- the entire human environment. For preservationists, the text and interrelationships goes against the reduction- issue was wildlife and habitats; for conservationists, the ist approach that has dominated modern scientific in- issue was natural resources; for the New Environmental- quiry (Forsyth, 2003, p. 5). Reductionism involves the ists, human survival itself was at stake. simplification or breaking down of objects and prob- lems to their simplest components in order to better McCormick’s concept of a ‘New Environmental- understand “the fundamentals” of observed phenom- ism’ addresses two key shifts in the environmentalist ena and thus improve the generalizability of findings movement that occurred in the 1960s and helped to (Gallagher and Appenzeller, 1999). Ecology’s empha- establish it as a worldview: the emergence of a global sis on systems and environments resists reductionism consciousness, and a heightened concern with dramat- and tends to a more “holistic” or complex view of the ic or apocalyptic environmental change. Macnaghten phenomena under examination (Ward and Dubois, and Urry (1998, p. 45) point to the publication of Rachel 1972; Lawton, 1999).1 The notion of an interactive eco- Carson’s Silent Spring in 1962 as a particularly import- system is also spatially fluid, and can be observed at ant watershed moment in the new environmentalism. very small scales (with microscopic amoeba) and at Carson’s book, which sold half a million copies world- very large scales; an idea that culminated in James wide, outlined the consequences of industrial usage of Lovelock’s popular Gaia hypothesis that Planet Earth pesticides on wildlife, particularly among animals oc- and all of its terrestrial, aquatic, and atmospheric sys- cupying high places on the food chain, which would be tems could be understood as a single self-regulating exposed to damaging and even lethal concentrations of organism. chemicals. For Carson, the boundaries of place, region, The rise of ecology and holism is also notable be- nation and continent that had been presumed under cause it belatedly brought human impacts into en- preservationist and conservationist conceptions of vironmental science (Forsyth, 2003, p. 5). While most environment were nonsensical, given the cumulative early ecologists focused exclusively on understand- dangers unleashed by unfettered global industrial de- velopment. In short, the globality of the problem spoke directly to its apocalyptic potential, as this was not a 1 Strictly speaking, ecology and ecosystem science do engage in problem that could be fixed or regulated in any one reductionist analysis (McIntosh 1987). That is, ecology often “seeks place. Even the metaphor of a “silent spring” implied explanation for phenomena by looking to smaller scales than those the mobility and transnationality of this issue, as toxins at which the observations were made” (Wiegert 269). This is a key migrated along with their avian victims. According to source of knowledge and theorization in ecology, but even the su- ggestion of reductionism grates with some ecologists, and debates Macnaghten and Urry (1998, p. 45), continue within ecological sciences about the place of “reduction versus holism” (Wilson 1988). 5 ing ecosystems in and of themselves, this eventually inforced these emerging late-modern themes. One of led to concerns over how they were being disrupted the best-documented events of this time was the Space or changed. Beginning in the 1960s, human interfer- Race, which pitted the and the Soviet ence in the biophysical world became an overarching Union in a technological competition to advance space theme in ecological research and education (Worster, exploration. This was a deeply modernist endeavour, 1994, p. 340). According to Forsyth (2003, p. 4), this involving the extensive application of state, scientific, combination of resistance to reductionism and de and military resources to nationalist objectives. How- facto critical stance towards human activities meant ever, as Jasanoff (2004) argues, the Apollo missions that ecology, at the time of its rise to prominence in the to the moon in particular forever altered humanity’s postwar period, had a tense and even “subversive” re- environmental imagination. On several of these voya- lationship with other fields in the natural and applied ges, astronauts turned their cameras back towards the sciences (Shepard and McKinly, 1969). This new sci- Earth and captured some of the most iconic and rec- ence posed a strong challenge to traditional narratives ognizable images ever taken. These photographs, in of technological and industrial progress, as well as the which political boundaries are both imperceptible and role of scientists within these narratives. According to irrelevant on a fragile-looking blue and white Earth, Worster (1994, p. 340): have had a profound cultural impact in establishing a global environmental imagination. In the words of After two centuries of preparation, ecology burst onto astronaut William Anders, who filmed the ubiquitous the scene during the 1960s. By then scientists of every “earth rise” video clip from the Apollo 8 mission: “We sort were accustomed to appearing as society’s benefac- came all this way to explore the moon, and the most tors. They were expected to show nations how to increase important thing is that we discovered the Earth”. their power and citizens how to increase their wealth. But This same period (mid-1960s to mid-1970s) also saw [ecology] took on a new role in a more nervous, anxiety- the resurgence of the nuclear issue. While the atomic ridden time, … [based on] a grim hopefulness that eco- age had been born in moments of unspeakable vio- logical science would offer nothing less than a blueprint lence with the 1945 bombings of and Naga- for planetary survival. saki, most popular and political discussions of in the 1950s and early 1960s were utopian The rise of ecology as a science and as an ideology rather than catastrophic (Gamson and Modigliani, has been central to the establishment of what Beck 1989, p. 14). The terrifying build-up of nuclear weap- (1992, p. 156) has called “a science-based critique of onry during the was countered by a widely- science” that was not widely present or accepted pri- accepted “atoms for peace” discourse that suggested or to the 1960s. Simply put, ecology established ‘the that nuclear technology was “a benevolent servant” consequences of science and technology’ as a legitim- that would produce “more comforts, more leisure, ate field of scientific study. Ecology became a way for better health, and … a much happier life” (Waymack both experts and activists to talk against the excesses cited in Gamson and Modigliani, 1989, p. 15). While of science-guided development – industrialism, tech- the horror of a potential nuclear strike was never far nology, and an unwavering faith in progress – using from people’s minds, nuclear technology did not be- the authoritative language of science itself (Hannigan, come an environmental issue until concerned scien- 2006, p. 45). tists, science fiction writers, and some media outlets began speculating on the effects of wind-borne - active fallout from atomic bomb testing (Weart, 2008, 3. From the Margins to the Mainstream: p. 40-41). Nuclear fallout and radiation were major Towards a Late Modern Consciousness themes of the first Earth Day in 1970, and public atten- tion to nuclear issues accelerated dramatically follow- It is important to recognize just how strongly the ing the Three Mile Island accident in 1979 and again environmentalist worldview that coalesced in the following Chernobyl in 1986 (Renn, 1990). The global- 1960s went against the prevailing politics of the time. ity of the issue was reinforced in 1983, when a group As noted by Jasanoff (2004), this was a time when na- led by celebrity scientist publicly argued tional and international boundaries were unusually that nuclear disaster could affect world climate over pronounced. With the Cold War well established, the the long term by initiating a global nuclear winter “of Curtain firmly drawn across Europe, and proxy such cold and darkness that it might threaten the very conflicts between the United States and survival of humankind” (Weart,2008, p. 140). brewing in multiple regions of the Third World, polit- The nuclear controversy thus reinforced public ical lines on the map were as solid as they have ever awareness of unpredictable, boundary-less ecological been. Against this, and the government-military- disasters that could only be permanently addressed by industrial complex that was pushing nationalistic global action. Several issues followed on the heels of technological ambitions, stood an emerging mindset the nuclear debate that bear an eerie thematic similar- that saw these modernist preoccupations as part of the ity. The problem of acid rain was first ‘discovered’ in problem. the late 1800s, but lay dormant as an issue until 1962 This minority view was sustained from the 1960s when Swedish researcher Svante Oden, prompted to the 1980s by a series of issues and events that re- by observations from a low-level fisheries inspector, 6 linked dying rivers and lakes in Scandinavia to heavy ized by “grand historical narratives” (the march of industry in Central and (Hannigan, progress, the rise of , triumph over scarcity, 2006, p. 68). The issue then migrated to North Amer- liberal versus state , etc.), the late ica, where the slow death of otherwise pristine and modern consciousness is much less sure of the future remote places was exposed as being a direct conse- (Rosenau, 1992). Giddens (2000) uses the metaphor of quence of distant and cross-border pollution. The acid the juggernaut to describe late modern society – a big rain issue was soon joined by two other global atmos- unwieldy force possessing its own momentum that is pheric problems of potentially catastrophic magni- difficult if not impossible to steer around as-yet un- tude: ozone depletion and climate change. The ozone perceived obstacles. Homer-Dixon uses the similar problem was particularly salient in the 1980s following metaphor of driving a car in the fog, where unfore- the release of a NASA-generated image of a growing seen but potentially-devastating hazards (a financial “hole” in the ozone layer over Antarctica (which was crisis, an industrial accident) seem to appear without in reality more of a thinning). According to Ungar, the warning even if, with the benefit of hindsight, warn- ozone depletion issue more than any other cemented ing signs were clear (see also Jasanoff , 2006). Beck cor- environmentalism as a mainstream public and polit- rectly argues that the late modern preoccupation with ical discourse. The ozone problem literally came from uncertainty has been strongly influenced by environ- everywhere (the worldwide use of carbofluorocarbons mental problems that have cast the future of the planet or CFCs) that if unaddressed would pose a universal in doubt. Public opinion surveys over the past thirty threat to human health and natural ecosystems. The years have consistently shown that a sizable minority hole in the ozone layer was a powerful metaphor that of young people expect to be materially worse off than resonated with existing cultural tropes (such as the their parents, despite tremendous global economic penetration of shields in popular science fiction or the growth in this same period (Pew Research Centre, sexual assault of “Mother” Nature) in a way that made 2006). The environmentalist worldview has helped the science-heavy issue understandable and urgent for to institutionalize uncertainty and a generally critical the general public (Ungar, 2000). view of the future (an essential component of reflex- In sum, the 1960s-1980s were a time when the ‘new’ ivity) as a cultural norm that extends well beyond environmentalism went strongly against prevailing specific environmental issues. early modern institutions and presumptions about the In addition to uncertainty, environmentalism has world. Narratives of progress, predictability, bound- also shaped late modern conceptualizations of time and aries, mastery of nature, and deference to science space. According to theorists such as Harvey, Giddens and expertise were challenged by a rising awareness (1990), and Castells (2000), late modernity is character- of lurking dangers that seemed to defy this logic. En- ized by “the conquest of space by time” (Jessop, 2000, vironmentalism suggested that what appeared to be p. 70) or, put another way, by “time-space compres- progress could in fact be regressive, what seemed to be sion” that allows vast spaces to be transcended in real a regional or national problem was in fact globally sig- time. While this change is often linked to new informa- nificant, and that the interactions between human and tion and communications technologies, we argue that natural systems were far more complex and unknow- environmentalism reinforces and deepens it. As sug- able than previously believed. As an emerging world- gested by Macnaghten and Urry, the environmentalist view, environmentalism foreshadowed, prompted, and worldview advances two interpretations of time: the reinforced the transition from early to late modernity. instantaneous and the eternal. Instantaneity refers to the fact that many contemporary environmental crises can happen suddenly and without warning. A nuclear 4. Environmentalism and Late Modernity: accident, for example, can occur in a matter of seconds Uncertainty, Time-Space Compression, (Chernobyl), as can an industrial disaster (Bhopal), or Local-Global Interactions, and the an oil or chemical spill (Exxon Valdez). In contrast to Disenchantment of Expertise the realm of technology, however, instantaneity in the environmentalist discourse is embedded in an longer- As mentioned earlier, the transition from early term eternal timeframe. While environmental disas- to late modernity is by no means a total break. Beck ters may be unleashed in any given instant, their ef- argues that we are now using the same tools that have fects are felt on an evolutionary timescale. Issues such caused environmental degradation to address these as climate change and species extinction have put an problems (science, technology, rationality, capitalism, emphasis on extremely long cycles and rhythms in the democracy). But some things clearly have changed Earth’s history, against which humanity’s recent activ- with the rise of late modernity, and we argue that en- ities seem like an abrupt shock. Moreover, problems vironmentalism plays as strong a role in the emergence such as nuclear radiation, toxicity, and genetic modifi- of this new consciousness as it did as a challenge to the cation are themselves temporally unbound (in Beck’s old one. famous articulation, “not all the victims of Chernobyl One of the most important and definitive charac- have even been born yet”). This dynamic of instan- teristics of late modern consciousness is a preoccupa- taneous irreversibility contrasts profoundly with the tion with uncertainty (Callon, Lascoumes and Barthe, linear and progressive notions of time that character- 2009). While the was character- ized the early modern period. 7

Environmentalist visions of space are similarly mal- to alternative claims and narratives that diverge from leable. As we argued earlier, environmentalism pre- official expert and political lines. sented one of the first major challenges to the hyper- of the early modern period. The insistence that environmental challenges such as pollution tran- 5. Conclusion scended borders and threatened the planet as a whole represents one of the first “globalist” claims that are In this paper, we have argued that environmental- now so familiar in popular and political discourse. But ism has played an important and often underappreci- it is important to note that environmentalism’s ability ated role in the transition from early to late modernity. to scale problems “up to the global” is matched by an In our view, this contribution has been driven less by equal ability to scale “down to the local”. That is, en- environmental degradation or particular events (al- vironmentalism makes big claims about what is good though these are important), and more by the emer- and what is bad “for the planet” that are thought to gence of an environmental mindset or discourse that apply universally in all spaces. For example, regional have challenged the ‘grand narratives’ of the early and national spaces such as the Amazon rainforest modern period with alternative themes of uncertainty, have been claimed by environmental groups as “the cosmopolitanism, globalism, and scepticism of exper- lungs of the planet”, which implies that non-local tise and authority. In this way, environmentalism has actors have a legitimate stake in the forest’s future shaped late modern society in ways that go well be- survival (read: economic use). As argued by Jasanoff yond specific environmental issues. (2004), this descent of global claims and demands onto The influence of environmental discourses on late local spaces occurs overwhelmingly in one direction: modern society continues to evolve. According to from the First World to the Third. Therefore, while Beck, environmental concerns are contributing to the environmentalism has been one of the drivers of late general dissatisfaction with official politics and con- modern globalism and cosmopolitanism (arguing that tributing to an emerging “subpolitics” that is authen- we are all “in this together”), this is at best an asym- tically grassroots and expressed in everyday activism. metric and at worst a chauvinistic cosmopolitanism Young and Matthews (2010) argue that environment- that has extended Western claims over less developed alism is also forcing decision-makers to defend the and less powerful regions of the globe. legitimacy of political and expert processes by open- Finally, environmentalism reflects and reinfor- ing them up to ordinary citizens and alternative forms ces changing views towards expertise and authority. of knowledge. At the same time, environmentalism Weber argued that one of the defining characteristics has failed to address, and has even reinforced, some of modern society has been the disenchantment of the unfortunate tendencies of late modernity. One of the world, as natural and human systems gave up their greatest accomplishments of environmentalist dis- secrets to science, bureaucracy, and technology. In course, for example, has been to prompt a more global late modernity, science and expertise have themselves consciousness – to see ecological problems (and by ex- been subject to this fate, robbed (although not com- tension political and social problems) as extending be- pletely) of the mystery and privilege that surround yond borders and boundaries. Yet environmentalism’s them (Collins, 1983). According to Beck (1992), this globalist orientation has allowed for an extension of has happened largely because the shortcomings of Western claims onto less privileged localities (an out- science and expertise have come home to roost in the come sometimes labelled “eco-”) backed form of unforeseen environmental problems gener- by an uncritical ‘we know what’s best’ attitude. In our ated by science itself. At its most extreme, this trend view, environmentalism’s next great challenge is to exposes even the natural sciences to claims of relativ- turn its critical eye onto itself on this issue and become ism, where science is understood as just one form of more open to a “symmetrical cosmopolitanism” that knowledge equivalent to any other (Hacking, 1999). is accepting of cross-cultural variations without fall- This kind of logic can be seen in current controver- ing back into relativism. 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