>From: Julien Pierrehumbert >
Tom,
>OK. Resources are not our passive things but living systems. But what's the
>connection between scarcity and anthropocentrism?
Oh, gawd, Julien. You really know where to apply the opener to the can of
worms, don't you? This goes RIGHT back to our discussion of "value" and
utility and Tony's idea of natural value, and my protests of what I perceive
as Marxist disregard for the Deep Ecology idea of "intrinsic value". Is a
thing scarce because there isn't enough of it for use in the market? (such
as a scarce ore, existence of which the biosphere couldn't care less about,
generally.) Or is a thing scarce because it is necessary for for the
existence of a non-human species? (such as a coral reef, the existence of
which an anthropocentric couldn't care less about unless tourist dollars are
involved.) Hope that is clear.
>Until industrialisation, never a crash has put the survival of the specie
>at risk, right?
Yes. However you assume that the antecedents and causes of the crash start
mainly with industrialization, and that industrialization is the big bad guy
instead of a symptom. The DE argument is that the original idea that man
could "control" all the variables in nature to dominate the planet
successfully have their beginnings far earlier, and not just theoretically
or marginally, and that these have been a 10000 year long spiral to the
crash. For DE, the fundamental problem with capitalist AND non capitalist
philosophies within our civilization is *everyone's* ignorance that the
control must be vested in biocentric context and the illusion of
anthropocentric control must be understood.
> >A biocentric
> >understanding must be included at the heart of any effort, even one to
>bring
> >about "the revolution", otherwise we are doomed.
>
>Why "any"?
>
>Julien
Yes, "any" is too much. Efforts in the "right" direction even without
biocentric understanding are helpful. But at the end of the day we're back
to the "wherewithal" statement. If efforts to establish class justice fail,
but we have acted to preserve clean air (Tony's natural value), we can have
hope of other efforts. The reverse is not true.
tom
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