*** Welcome to piglix ***

Ecological humanities


The ecological humanities (also environmental humanities) is an interdisciplinary area of research, drawing on the many environmental sub-disciplines that have emerged in the humanities over the past several decades (in particular environmental literature, environmental philosophy, environmental history and environmental anthropology). The ecological humanities aim to help bridge traditional divides between the sciences and the humanities, and between Western, Eastern and Indigenous ways of knowing the natural world and the place of humans in it (Rose 2004).

The ecological humanities are characterised by a connectivity ontology and a commitment to two fundamental axioms relating to the need to submit to ecological laws and to see humanity as part of a larger living system.

One of the fundamental ontological presuppositions of ecological humanities is that the organic world and its inorganic parts are seen as a single system whereby each part is linked to each other part. This world view in turn shares an intimate connection with Lotka's physiological philosophy and the associated concept of the "World Engine". When we see everything as connected, then the traditional questions of the humanities concerning economic and political justice become enlarged, into a consideration of how justice is connected with our transformation of our environment and ecosystems. The consequence of such a connectivity ontology is, as proponents of the ecological humanities argue, that we begin to seek out a more inclusive concept of justice that includes non-humans within the domain of those to whom rights are owing. This broadened conception of justice involves "enlarged" or "ecological thinking", which presupposes the enhancement of knowledge sharing within fields of plural and diverse ‘knowledges’. This kind of knowledge sharing is called transdisciplinarity. It has links with the political philosophy of Hannah Arendt and the works of Italo Calvino. As Calvino put it, "enlarge[s] the sphere of what we can imagine". It also has connections with Leibniz's Enlightenment project where, the sciences are simultaneously abridged while also being enlarged.


...
Wikipedia

...