Sunday, June 2, 2019

Truth of the Myths of Nature :: Philosophy Nature Papers

Truth of the Myths of NatureThe term nature myths designates narratives presenting what-is as in demonstrateigible in terms of value and nub. Such narratives function to remind ecological activism by articulating such presuppositions as the conviction that what we do matters, destruction of nature is intrinsically wrong, and the possibility of nondestructive human beings. However, such narratives motivate only if they atomic number 18 regarded in some sense as true. The question is, in what sense? Not in an objectivist sense (e.g. von Ranke), since value-even if intrinsic-is a subject related reality. Not in an idealist sense (e.g. Cassirer), since they respect the autonomy of reality. Nor in a depth sense of expressing an alleged essential condition of guilt (e.g. Heidegger and Patocka), since this would remain a electropositive description, albeit one level re locomote. Instead, I propose treating nature myths as orienting the world (e.g. Jaspers) and guiding human components t herein. As such, nature myths can be verbalise to be true (as in Ricoeurs adamic myth) or false (as in the myth of Man the Master) inasmuch as they nominate or fail to provide adequate guidance for sustainable coexistence with all of the Earth. The purpose of this paper is to ask in what sense, if any, ecological nature myths can be said to be non only ennobling and moving, only if also in some significant sense true, able to claim a validity independent of the assent of those who tell and hear them.I wish to use the term myth rather broadly to indicate not only the alleged spontaneous outpourings from the depth of our psyche, beloved to romantically inclined philosophers and psychologists, but rather all narratives which describe the cosmos and the place of humans therein in terms of relations of value and meaning rather than in terms of mathematico-causal relations in spacetime. (1) In the quaint terminology of Husserls Ideen II, they are face-to-faceistic narratives, render ing reality intelligible in terms of personal that is, intrinsically subject-related categories. (2)Such narratives in fact play a crucial role in the effort to forge a sustainable mode of coexistence amidst humans and the rest of the creation. Humans may select the means for dealing with ecological damage in the light of natural scientific analysis but they are moved to deal with it at all by mythico-poetic articulation rather than by theoretical reconstruction of their lived experience.Thus Rachel Carson, rigorous analytical chemist, moved her fellow humans by evoking their empathy through value laden poetic imagery.

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