Publication details
Má príroda ešte dnes miesto v environmentálnom myslení?
| Title in English | Has Nature Still Place In Environmental Thought? |
|---|---|
| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2016 |
| Type | Article in Proceedings |
| Conference | Environmental Ethics in V4 Countries |
| Citation | |
| Keywords | end of nature, social constructionism, dualism, wilderness, wildness |
| Description | In 1989 Bill McKibben heralded the end of nature: there is not anymore even a bit of a pristine, untouched nature on Earth, mainly as a consequence of climate change. From a totally different position the social-constructionist critique of the term “nature” and concepts attached to it was developed in the 1990's. Various authors convincingly showed that the idea of nature as an untouched wilderness is philosophically and politically untenable due to the nature–culture dualism it builds upon. This development brought a significant new depth to the philosophical reflection of the foundations of environmental discourse, but at the same time threatens to be misused by the utilitarian anthropocentric opponents of nature conservation and preservation. This paper presents this critique on the example of the “great wilderness debate” and shows two distinct approaches at dealing with it. One ushers in the new post-nature age, leaves the term “nature” and related concepts behind and develops a discourse based on the concept of environment where nature and culture are always intertwined. The other tries to retain the term while taking the critique |
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