THE JOY OF LIFE
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racism, and the state, many believe that the cause of ecological destruction is
humanity itself, a humanity that has placed itself above nature. In reaction,
ecology becomes a form of social criticism that posits nature as everything
good that humanity is not 'While nature is spiritualized and romanticized,
portrayed as a martyred innocent that we must save, the idea of humanity is
cast out of notions of earthly paradise that we have constructed in reaction,
frustration, and pain. Unfortunately, however, 99% of this humanity, denigrated
along with nature, is blamed for the unjust deeds of the 1% in power.
Rather than place the idea of humanity below or above the idea of
nature, it is crucial to locate humanity within natural evolution in a historical
and developmental relationship to other species. While understanding the
developmental similarities between humans and other organisms allows us to
understand our historical origins and relatedness to previous forms of
development, understanding evolutionary difference allows us to understand
our unique capacities for innovation, both creative and destructive. For
instance, to know our individual potential as human beings, we need to
explore what makes us unique, uncovering our particular interests, talents, or
desires. To know ourselves, we must cultivate a differentiated sense of
ourselves within the context of others, being able to identify that which renders
us both like and unlike others.
Similarly, for society to know itself, it must be able to point to that which
renders it both like and unlike first nature. To solely emphasize continuities
between nature and society is potentially dangerous. For we are then unable to
identify both our distinctively liberatory potentialities as well as our harmful
capacities. The emergence of society itself represents an undeniable novelty
within the whole of natural history. "With the emergence of humanity, we see
the introduction of novel expressions of abstract language systems, elaborate
social institutions, and unique forms of rationality, consciousness, and desire
whose liberatory potential has yet to be actualized through the elaboration of a
truly humane and ecological society.
It
is
indeed
challenging
to
find an
adequate
analogy
for
the
developmental relationship between society and nature. Liberal capitalist
society is so thoroughly steeped in the ideology of domination and hierarchy
that developmental metaphors often smack of anything ranging from romantic
to reactionary. It is then, tempting to merely assert that nature and society are
part of one another and leave it at that. But what do we lose when we look
only at the developmental continuities between nature and society, ignoring
the evolutionary differences? We lose the opportunity to look closely at the
organic derivation of society within the natural world, losing too, a vital
understanding of our own natural history and distinctive social potentiality.
Naming and exploring the developmental relationship between first and