An ontological method for organizing the coexistence of nature's multiple values
(2024) Political Ecology Network (POLLEN) 2024 — Location: Lund (2024.June.10AD)
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- The question of nature’s value lies at the heart of the crisis facing biodiversity conservation. The "natural capital" value approach, promoted by several programs and institutions to satisfy a quantifiable, managerial vision of nature, contains a fundamental contradiction: it claims to apply to nature the capitalist principles of accumulation and movement (Buscher & Fletcher, 2020). In opposition to this approach, two alternative visions of the value of nature have emerged. The first is the theory of nature's intrinsic value (Maris, 2018). Formulated by Callicott as an extension of the Kantian categorical imperative, it has the limitation, in our view, of not being able to settle "conflicts of use" between humans and nature (Callicott, 1995). The second approach relies on the relational value of nature. It is based on an anthropological relational metaphysics and highlights the differences between the forms taken by the human/nature relationship across the diversity of humanity (Descola, 2005). This approach gives us hope that cultural changes in society can modify our behaviour towards nature (Morizot, 2020). However, following its core principle, this approach also presents a limit: it does not allow us to think about the need for a space for a radical independence of nature, and to prioritize between more or less harmful human/nature relationships (Maris, 2018). In order to go beyond these limits, Tristan Garcia has proposed an ontology that aims at accepting and organizing the existence of various metaphysics. It is based on a non-authoritarian principle of letting be of competing metaphysical approaches, and on an anti-authoritarian organizing principle of making powerful - which consists in making certain metaphysics more powerful by rejecting authoritarian ones (Garcia, 2023). Building on this approach, we suggest that multiple values must be alternatives to the disenchantment of the world (Joas, 2000). We propose to apply this theory of multiple values to the case of European rewilding. BIBLIOGRAPHY Buscher, B., & Fletcher, R. (2020). The Conservation Revolution : Radical Ideas for Saving Nature Beyond the Anthropocene. Verso. Callicott, J. B. (1995). Intrinsic Value in Nature : A Metaethical Analysis. The Electronic Journal of Analytic Philosophy, 3. Descola, P. (2005). Par-delà nature et culture (1‑1). Gallimard. Garcia, T. (2023). Laisser être et rendre puissant. Humensis. Joas, H. (2000). The Genesis of Values. Polity Press. Maris, V. (2018). La Part sauvage du monde : Penser la nature dans l’Anthropocène. SEUIL. Morizot, B. (2020). Manières d’être vivant : Enquêtes sur la vie à travers nous. ACTES SUD.
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Gane, A. (2024). An ontological method for organizing the coexistence of nature’s multiple values. Political Ecology Network (POLLEN) 2024, Lund. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/234112