Desertification and Metaphysics in Nietzsche and Abbey

The truth is neither simply culture derived from nature, nor nature from culture. Can we (qua humans) merge with nature and still maintain our self-intelligibility? –This is the question that the anti-anti-naturalist concentrates on. The author looks at Nietzsche’s critique of metaphysics, which posits a new metaphysics that requires us to enter the violent, heartless desert that is the paradoxical dual immanence of nature. The paper looks at the desert in the Genealogy’s discussion of the ascetic ideal, and how it relates to Edward Abbey’s isolation and book Desert Solitaire. Importantly, the similarities in-part stem from their similar post-modern sensibility. In the end, it turns out that the desert is a purifying place—that humanity’s meaning comes from a turning away from that is at the same time a turning towards

Fluid Identities and Global Justice: An MSW Portfolio

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