New Wilderness Landscapes as Moral Criticism A Nietzschean Perspective on Our Contemporary Fascination with Wildness  

Oleh:

Drenthen, Martin

Jenis: Article from Journal - ilmiah internasional
Dalam koleksi: Ethical Perspectives: Journal of the European Ethics Network vol. 14 no. 4 (Dec. 2007), page 371-404.
Topik: Environmental Ethics; Wildness; Ecological Restoration; Friedrich Nietzsche; Pluralism

Ketersediaan

Perpustakaan Pusat (Semanggi) Nomor Panggil: EE45.11 Non-tandon: 1 (dapat dipinjam: 0) Tandon: tidak ada

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In moral debates about human's relationship with nature, one often hears references to nature's wildness. Apparently, postmodern city dwellers seem to be deeply fascinated by wild nature; for them, wildness somehow seems to ahve strong moral significance. How should we interpret this fascination? Moral meanings of nature come into play as soon as we start articulating our relationship with the world. In this process, we transfrom the neutrality of space into a meaningful place, that is, through interpretation we make mere environment into a meaningful and inhabitable world that we can live in. However, there is something peculiar with experiences of wild nature that seems to go beyond this hermeneutical framework. The word 'wilderness' refers to the sphere that lies byeond culture, a part of the world that is not subject to human intervention and that is not (and can never be made) our home. Does this mean that wildness cannot be part of a meaningful world? In this paper, I argue that Nietzsche's account of nature can help elucidate today's fascination with (the value of) wilderness as a place of value byeond the sphere of human intervention. For Nietzsche, wild nature is a realm where moral valuations are out of order. In his work, however, we can discern a paradoxical moral concern with this wildness. Wildness is a cricial moral concept that reminds us that our moral world of human meanings and goals ultimately rests on (and refers to) a much grander, all-encompassing natural world. Nietzsche's (paradoxical) concept of wildness acknowledges (and thus appropriates) the value of that which cannot be (but always has to be) morally appropriated. Wild nature confronts us with the limits of human valuing. Wildness as a concept thus introduces the 'beyond' of culture into the cultural arena of values.

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