عنوان

Ecology, Divinity, and Reason

Number

LA129737

.Language of Text, Soundtrack etc

انگلیسی

Title Proper

Ecology, Divinity, and Reason

General Material Designation

[Article]

First Statement of Responsibility

James W. Waters

Place of Publication, Distribution, etc.

Leiden

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

Brill

Text of Note

Eco-feminist Val Plumwood has argued that as heirs of rationalism, the developed world has created an ecological crisis that is truly a crisis of reason. Of primary concern is the "rationalist hyper-separation of human identity from nature," which has caused a great epistemological schism between ethics and ecology. Assuming the ecological crisis is, as Plumwood argues, an epistemological crisis enflamed by the human/non-human, ethical/ecological divisions that take place in modern forms of rationalism, this essay argues that certain western interpretations of Christian divinity-particularly the notion of divinity purported by Thomas Aquinas-have historically supported hegemonic forms of rationalism and human supremacy. After showing that certain Thomist formulations of the divine have buttressed the anthropocentric elements of modern rationalism, I venture a reading of Christian divinity that is radically relational in character. This reading of the divine highlights the inseparability of the human and non-human, and begins doing so by emphasizing the intimate connection between human and non-human animality. Such a re-framing of divinity, I argue, could help bridge the human/non-human, ethical/ecological divides, complicate anthropocentric logic, and mitigate the vast eco-epistemological crisis of our day. Eco-feminist Val Plumwood has argued that as heirs of rationalism, the developed world has created an ecological crisis that is truly a crisis of reason. Of primary concern is the "rationalist hyper-separation of human identity from nature," which has caused a great epistemological schism between ethics and ecology. Assuming the ecological crisis is, as Plumwood argues, an epistemological crisis enflamed by the human/non-human, ethical/ecological divisions that take place in modern forms of rationalism, this essay argues that certain western interpretations of Christian divinity-particularly the notion of divinity purported by Thomas Aquinas-have historically supported hegemonic forms of rationalism and human supremacy. After showing that certain Thomist formulations of the divine have buttressed the anthropocentric elements of modern rationalism, I venture a reading of Christian divinity that is radically relational in character. This reading of the divine highlights the inseparability of the human and non-human, and begins doing so by emphasizing the intimate connection between human and non-human animality. Such a re-framing of divinity, I argue, could help bridge the human/non-human, ethical/ecological divides, complicate anthropocentric logic, and mitigate the vast eco-epistemological crisis of our day.

Date of Publication

2020

Physical description

184-201

Title

Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and Ecology

Volume Number

24/2

International Standard Serial Number

1568-5357

Subject Term

Catherine Keller

Subject Term

divinity

Subject Term

ecological crisis

Subject Term

ecological ethics

Subject Term

epistemology

Subject Term

St. Thomas Aquinas

Subject Term

Val Plumwood

James W. Waters

Call Number

10.1163/15685357-20201002

Electronic name

p

[Article]

275578

a

Y