Exploring Kohak’s Dialogue With Nature as a Language Game
Keywords:
Environment, Wittgenstein, Philosophy of nature, Anti-humanismAbstract
The article provides a textual analysis of Kohak's position on human relationship with the natural world, through the lens of Wittgenstein's language games. The experiential engagement of humans and their perception of the natural world is analysed as a language game of its own, featuring the interplay between the contrasting phenomenological perspectives on the human role in the Earths functioning; humans qua members of the ecosystem and humans as entities outside of it which shape it to their will. The article then claims that by perceiving our interactions with nature in its entirety as a language game, our internal perspective on our relationship will by necessity constitute the former one, which in turn provides for a normative shift towards taking into account nature's needs and wants. In other words, the article provides an argument for changing our views on nature towards a relationship of ethical equality, which is essential for dealing with issues pertaining to the environment reasonably.
References
Anat Biletzki and Anat Matar, ‘Ludwig Wittgenstein’, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2018.
Daniel A Dombrowski, ‘The Embers and the Stars: A Philosophical Inquiry into the Moral Sense of Nature by Erazim Kohák’, The Thomist: A Speculative Quarterly Review, vol. 50, no. 1, 1986.
Erazim Kohák, The Embers and the Stars : A Philosophical Inquiry into the Moral Sense of Nature The University Of Chicago Press, 1987
Lara S Franco, Danielle F Shanahan and Richard A Fuller, ‘A Review of the Benefits of Nature Experiences: More than Meets the Eye’,International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 14, no. 1, 2017.
Berel Lang, ‘The Embers and the Stars: A Philosophical Inquiry into the Moral Sense of Nature by Erazim Kohák - the Imperative of Responsibility: In Search of an Ethics for the Technological Age by Hans Jonas University of Chicago Press’, Worldview, vol. 28, no. 1, 1985.
The Blue and Brown Books: Preliminary Studies for the 'Philosophical Investigations, 1st ed, Willey-Blackwell, 1991.
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, trans. Peter MS Hacker, Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.
Emilia Pramova and others, ‘Sensing, Feeling, Thinking: Relating to Nature with the Body, Heart and Mind’, People and Nature, vol. 4, no. 1, 2021.
Jacob M Rump, ‘The Phenomenological Dimension of the Theory of Meaning: A Critical Inquiry through Husserl and Wittgenstein’, Emory University, vol. 1, no. 1, 2013.
Dick Saarloos, Jae-Eun Kim and Harry Timmermans, ‘The Built Environment and Health: Introducing Individual Space-Time Behavior’, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 6, no. 1, 2009.
Mateusz Salwa, ‘Dialogue with Nature and the Ecological Imperative’, EIDOS, vol.4, no. 1, 2008
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Matej Sedlar
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
