Evasion of Global Warming: A Human Responsibility with an Ethical Challenge

S. Lourdunathan

Paper presented at Sacred Heart Seminary, Poonamallee, in the Symposium on Global Warming on 14 -15the September 2 !" Head, #ept" o$ Philosophy, %rul %nandar &%utonomous' (ollege, )arumathur" *-mail+
lourdu,nathan-yahoo"com

Crisis-context: A call for fresh worl outloo! .he causes o$ global /arming are multiple and ho/e0er the present paper does not attempt to sur0ey on the scienti$ic and technocratic rationale $or global /arming" 1 only aim at the philosophical $oundations that continue to en$orce an undue relation o0er nature and thereby augment $or an alternate outloo2 that is ecologically sustainable" 1 hold that many o$ our philosophical traditions both the *uropean and the 1ndian, are not su$$iciently ecosophical, hence the ecological de0astation is only an e$$ect o$ the primary cause that is our /orld outloo2s that shape our relation /ith nature" .he causal connection or the in0ariable relation bet/een our /orld outloo2s and global /arming hence /ill be established in this paper as to $oster the necessary ethical relation /ith nature to a0ert en0ironmental crisis such as global /arming"

% report by $rom 3S *n0ironmental Protection %gency &( 4*5, 6arch 2!, 1787 p"22' assert that global /arming, 9%n 1ncon0enient .ruth: is mainly caused by human energy use and production" .he acti0ity percent contribution to global /arming due to *nergy 3se and Production is 5!;, by chloro$luorocarbons is 1!;, by agricultural practices is 14; and changes in land use is 7; and other industrial acti0ities is <;" 1t is to be noted that 9the transnational corporations locate their most contaminating industries and e=ercise the least sa$ety precaution precisely in the underde0eloped countries" >actory /astes 2ills the $auna and $lora o$ the ocean, pollutes the atmosphere /ith asphy=iating gases, and /ipes out the natural procedures o$ o=ygen" .he de0eloped countries rob the periphery e0en o$ its o=ygen? %$ter all, they consume more than they produce@the gigantic ecological collapse looms" .he time dra/s near /hen, as i$ by an act o$ cosmic 0engeance, nature /ill e=terminate the species homo $rom the $ace o$ planet" 1ne=tricably intert/ined /ith the sin o$ economic and political inAustice, the sin o$ human domination is the 0ery death o$ nature" %nd yet, as /e 2no/, the one /ho grasps $or the s/ord, dies by the s/ord:"1 1n other /ords, the maAor cause o$ global /arming is due to the pro$it oriented human inter0entions /ith nature and the practice o$ cultural domination" Global /arming as an important aspect o$ ecological crisis, ser0es as a catalyst to ree=amine our 0alue systems" 1t is both a challenge and an opportunity $or us to rethin2 our relationship /ith natureBen0ironment, by 9rein0enting the human at the species le0el:2" "hilosophies of omination over #ature 1n many o$ our paradigms thin2ing or philosophies both secular and unsecular, there e=ist a Austi$ication o$ grammar $or the practice o$ subAugationBdomination o$ 5ature by the human" .a2e $or instance most Gree2 paradigms o$ thin2ing in the Cuest $or ultimate nature o$ the uni0erse, has committed and strongly communicated the erroneous message o$ singular $undamental reality as against the e=istences o$ pluralities o$ reality" .hey either succumb to material or the spiritual as only $undamental entity or hence tend to
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*nriCue #ussel, Philosophy o$ Diberation, &Erbis Foo2s, 6ary2noll, 5e/ Gor2" 177 ' p"178

Dester Fro/n et al", State of the world 1993: World Watch 1nstitute Heport on Progress .o/ard a Sustainable Society &5e/ Gor2+ 5orton, 177<'

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strongly suggest the idea that the-e0erything-o$-the plural needs to be sCueeIed into their ontological structures o$ thought" .hey miss the idea that there can be a pluralities o$ realities, and the re0erence $or 5ature in its multiplicity seriously remain buried or unconscious" .he idea o$ monolithic oneness is suicidal o$ the idea o$ respect $or multiplicity" .heir philosophy most o$ten treat the e=istences in an order o$ undue hierarchy /herein 5ature is o$ten pushed to the last category o$ e=istence by /hich the due /orth and signi$icance o$ 5ature is either trespassed or subordinated" .he ele0ation the Eneness o$ the Spiritual or 6aterial simultaneously construe the practice o$ depression o$ 5ature as the Ether to be absorbed or e=ploited" .he Primacy o$ the Spirit in our thin2ing diplomatically construes the dismiss-ability o$ 5ature, as Ether, as 3ntouchable, as non-spiritual and hence something secondary and 0ulnerable $or the sel$ish-interests o$ the human" Plato $or e=ample, by treating the reality o$ /orld as copy-/orld, the natural /orld reduces it to a sense o$ unreality non-ideal and there by secondaryJ San2ara:s $rame o$ thought in his non-dualism spell out a serious sense o$ the denial o$ the reality o$ the /orld and it deems the /orld as locus o$ ignoranceJ something o$ the nature o$ 6aya, /hich is po/er$ul enough $or delusion and ignorance" Such is the ignoramus o$ these patterns o$ thin2ing" .he cogito ergo sum o$ #escartes uphold the central certainty o$ human ego by reducing the Ether, namely the material /orld, to mere e=tension and thereby to human e=ploitation" .he e=istentialist thin2ing o$ Sartre reduces the cosmic e=istence to human e=istence" .he cultural lens o$ such and many other paradigms o$ thought is in0ested /ith the Austi$ication o$ e=ploitation o$ nature" .hus both nature and human culture remains subAugated by $ello/ humans" *nriCue #ussel in his Philosophy of Liberation and in Ethics and Community 3 e=poses us the logic o$ domination bet/een 6an &K' and 5ature &G'" He argues that bet/een K and G, /hen K is historically, culturally and philosophically concei0edBpatterned to be superior to G, then K appropriates and assumes and Austi$ies the po/er o$ playing superiorBdominatorBe=ploitatorBauthoritarianBhierarchically primary o0er G" .his means that the po/erless G is at the monopoly o$ the dominant K resulting in a social #ar/inist
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Head *nriCue #ussel, Philosophy o$ Diberation &177 ', 4 *thics and (ommunity &177<', published by Erbis Foo2s, 6ary2noll, 5e/ Gor2"

morality, according to /hich the e=istence o$ G is meant $or the primacy o$ K, the stronger and the $ittest $or sur0i0al" .he usability and the perishabililty o$ G is 9good: &illegality o$ goodness' in order that the Stronger &K' sur0i0es" .he /ea2 is conditioned to ser0e the stronger and the rei$ication, cruci$ication and annihilation o$ the /ea2er ones is meant $or glori$ication, dei$ication and 0oluptuous e=istence o$ the dominant" Global /arming, the crisis o$ dimension o$ our en0ironment, is but predominantly the result o$ greediest human &K' domination Binter0ention o0er the annihilation o$ 5ature" Eur inability to deem nature as embodiment o$ spirit &personhood' /ith all our dominant philosophical tendencies imposes such e=teriority o$ en0ironment" .he $oundations $or en0ironmental disaster lie in our attitudes, 0alues, perceptions, and cultural /orld0ie/s that construe the practice o$ subAugation radically" $he %acets of $ransition .he /orld0ie/s associated /ith industrial and technological $acets o$ de0elopments permit us to/ards the e=ploitation and destruction o$ the en0ironment" .he /orld0ie/s that upheld the thin2ing that human is the primacy and thereby in0ested /ith the po/er o$ domination o0er nature impulse the 2illing o$ the li$e-/orld" .his means that the e=isting /orld outloo2s, cultural paradigms, scientic and technological ad0ances are inadeCuate to deal /ith this ecological catastrophe" Eur /orld0ie/s and 0alues, perceptions, scienti$ic 2no/-ho/s, permitted us to establish an e=ploitati0e relation /ith nature B en0ironment and there by disabling the li$e o$ ecosystem resulting in the increase o$ global /arming" Global /arming does not ha0e any national or cultural or social boundaries" 1ts destruction spells on the entire biospheric li$e-systems" Such a crisissituation calls into Cuestion our mode o$ adaptationBrelation to the natural /orld" 1n our concern about global /arming, 1 belie0e, /e are $undamentally in0ol0ed in see2ing a /orld0ie/&s' /hose ethical $oundations ought to be deeply ecosophical than merely human-logical" We need to understand that the androcentric, anthropocentric, e0en god-centric and positi0ist-technocratic /orld0ie/s or paradigms are ethically incapable o$ responding to en0ironmental crisis and that they lac2 ecological ethics" .his means that /e need to be non-human centric &non-anthropocentric' and non-androcentric,

non-positi0istic, and non-technocratic, in our perceptions and attitudes to li$e by /ay o$ critically re-loo2ing into our e=isting 0alue-systems be that o$ secular or unsecular" We need to transit $rom our established patterns o$ rationalities and actualities to/ards a deep ecological /ays o$ li0ing" We need to shi$t $rom the notion o$ instrumental 0alue and e=trinsic 0alue &0alue $or others' to the notion o$ intrinsic 0alue o$ natureBen0ironment" &%"5"Whitehead'" We ought to reorient our understanding o$ our sel$J /e ha0e to shi$t $rom 9indi0idual sel$: to socialBcultural sel$ and $rom social sel$ to a sense o$ ecological sel0es" .he /ritings o$ Dynn White, Lr", %rnold .oynbee argue that monotheistic religions /ith their monolithic moral theologies ha0e only created an ontological hierarchy among God, 6an and 5ature, robbing the animistic 0ie/ that nature is spiritpersoni$ied, and thus rendering the idea that nature is someho/ corrupt, remote to any transcendent deity, secular and there$ore not su$$iciently sacred and 9gi0en: to the utility o$ 6an the best o$ creation" 6a= Weber:s Protestantism elaborates the $act that the de0elopment o$ e=ploitati0e capitalism has ended in desacraliIation o$ 5ature resulting in materialistic and mechanistic tendency namely nature is non-person there$ore a resource $or human pro$it ends" 4 .he mechanistic-enlightenment rationality e=tended as technocratic rationality in the late modern age is dubious in the sense that by claiming human progress and de0elopment it has only caused the su$$ering o$ the EtherJ the Ether here include the 0ulnerable ones namely the *n0ironment and the People /ho are 0ulnerable to e=ploitation and destruction" Fy late 17th century human 2ind has sel$-con0inced itsel$ that -)no/ledge is Po/er &>rancis Facon', historical ine0itability o$ human progress &%ugust (omte' and humaniIation o$ nature &)arl 6ar=' leading to Social #ar/inism and there by the estrangement o$ humans $rom nature" Fut then, We need to understand that such mechanical philosophy o$ that o$ 5e/ton, Galileo and #escartes that de0ised a machnomorphic /orld-outloo2 is erroneous and the e0ents o$ eco-disasters gi0e /ay $or a rene/ed understanding that the planet earth is no more a machine $or human appropriation but a li0ing organism /here in li$e is sel$-generati0e &autopoeitic'"

Halph 6etIner, he !ge of Ecology, &Hesurgence 5o"147, 5o0-#ec 1771'

.he *arth, instead o$ an inert body o$ dead matter as seen by Lames Do0eloc2 and Dynn 6argulis, is a 2ind o$ superorganism, e0ol0ing in homeostatic reciprocal interaction bet/een li0ing organisms and the physicochemical en0ironment" 5 .he challenge o$ Nuantum physics /ith its uncertainty principle, the theory o$ pluralistic relati0ity in many our systems o$ thought, and the idea that 9truth is culturally construed &postmodern 0ersion' etc gi0e /ay $or a ne/er understanding o$ reality in /hich reality is understood in terms o$ nested relationality &holarchy'" .he atomistic conception o$ reality is seriously $alsi$ied and e=change $or the 0ie/ that reality is not monolithic but multiple, multile0el and comple= interactions o$ phenomena" 9.he conCuest o$ 5ature: e0angeliIed by positi0ist epistemology has resulted in anthropocentric morality /hose root is the subAugation o$ nature, and by e=tension the subAugation o$ the po/erless nations and its people is seriously eroded in the $acet o$ the emerging en0ironmental ethics" .he ethic o$ deep ecology propel biocentric 0alues /here in humans are seen as part o$ nature not as masters o$ 6other 5ature and that li0ing systems ha0e their intrinsic 0alues in themsel0es" We need to realiIed that appropriation o$ nature $or human-ends un$ortunately ends up /ith annihilation o$ e0ery li$e in the planet and that include primarily the li0ing-/orld o$ the poor and by e=tension the li$e o$ e0ery other persons" $he Ethic of Ecology & A Human Response-ability Halph 6etIner con0incingly maps the 0arious dimensions o$ transition $rom industrial age to ecological age in his article entitled, *merging *cological World Oie/" He calls $or an alternate attitudes and 0alue systems+ .he scienti$ic paradigms that consider uni0erse as machine, earth as inert matter, li$e as random chemistry, deterministic, and atomistic and linear has to be e=changed $or the ecological 0ie/ that earth is organismic, uni0erse as process-story, earth as Gaia, li$e as inter-dependent, holistic and non-linearJ the epistemology o$ rationalism, dualism, and mechanism, logical positi0ism, operationalism, reductionism, etc has to be replaced by a pluralistic and relati0istic sense o$ epistemology namely o$ that o$ critical realism, deconstructi0ism $or continuous reconstructi0ism and pluralism" .he role o$ human concei0ed as conCueror o$ nature, the dominator o$ nature, his ego-centric indi0idualism, his tactics o$ resource management
5

Lames Do0eloc2, .he %ges o$ G%1%+ % Fiography o$ Eur Di0ing *arth &5e/ Gor2+ 5orton, 1788'

etc has to be tra0ersed to reconsider himsel$Bhersel$ as a li0ing being as part o$ nature, coe0olutionary, symbiotic and as part and parcel o$ a plurality o$ sel0esJ in the plane o$ morality human has to shi$t $rom anthropocentric and androcentric attitude to/ards biocentric re0ie/s by considering nature in its o/n /orth ha0ing intrinsic 0alue" .he Cuestion o$ economic de0elopment in terms o$ hegemonic monolithic mar2et economy has to be e=changed $or the realiIation o$ community-based economics in0ested /ith the idea o$ ecosystems sustainabilityJ the pro$it dri0en technologies, addiction to $ossil $uels, mono-cultural and consumerist tendencies has to be eroded and the practice o$ appropriate so$t technologies, reliance on rene/ables that restore ecosystems need to be replaced"M .he ethics o$ ecology is basically a human response-ability to deconstruct our dubious cultural and metaphysical and moral constructs by replacing it /ith ecological sensibilities" 1t is to become conscious o$ our dubious moral $oundations and practices because humans are specially endo/ed /ith a special sense o$ consciousness and re$lecti0ity o$ hisBher en0ironment" 1t is an attempt to e=pose and deny the logic and practices o$ domination and inAustice &sin$ulness' that is inherently $ibered in our /ays o$ thin2ing and social li$e, thus it is a Cuestion socialBcosmic Austice" .he destruction o$ 5ature and the practice o$ the $orms o$ cultural domination are interrelated" Hence response to global /arming is by its inclusion a reAection o$ the modes o$ cultural dominations" HealiIation that humans are ecologically conditioned compels the reorientation that /e ought not to be indi0idualistically egoistic but patterned in a community o$ sel0es as ethical human persons" ------------

Halph 6etIner, Emerging Ecological "orld#iew in World0ie/s and *cology", ed, .uc2er 4 Lohn % Grim, Erbis Foo2s, 5e/ Gor2 177<"