Relating to Nature: Motivation, Hermeneutics and Spirituality

In spite of a sense of urgency about the ecological state of the planet, almost everyone at a certain point is confronted with some discrepancy between his or her ecological values and the behavioural choices he or she actually makes. The so-called value-action gap poses a considerable motivational challenge to environmental policy and awareness-raising initiatives. Recent studies within environmental psychology and education reveal an important role for the affective in motivating proenvironmental behaviour. Emotionally engaging encounters with nature as other foster a sense of connectedness to nature that supplies an internal motivation to act on its behalf. These studies also indicate that such aspects of relationality, commitment and environmental identity appear to have a pronounced hermeneutical dimension. However, given the growing (sub-)urbanization, opportunities to encounter nature in its alterity seem rather limited. This could lead to a certain distancing, even an alienation to nature. More and more, human-shaped environments form the habitats we live in, with the natural as an ever appreciated, albeit largely decorative or recreational, backdrop. What opportunities for genuine encounter could still be envisaged? Environmentally engaged persons (e.g. conservation volunteers) often refer to an ineffable, mysterious “spirituality” within nature. This appears to be linked to their sense of connectedness to nature and contributes to a profound respect for it. How can we appropriately articulate this somewhat elusive spiritual-religious dimension? And what could environmentalists gain from acknowledging such elements within their worldviews?http://www.ru.nl/science/isis/current/colloquia/@962769/colloquium-5/status: publishe

In Between Epochs? Hermeneutical Generosity and the Promise of Being

Even if expert deliberations on whether we have crossed the threshold of a new geological epoch are still ongoing, it is generally realised that humans have constructed a second ethos within the first ethos we originated in. However, to William Desmond, it is the mindful experience of this first ethos that makes us aware of the exigencies of other beings, which the second ethos made harder to recognize and therefore respond to. From the very outset of his Ethics and the Between, he qualifies our current mode of living as in an incognito of the good, in denial of the promise of being of the other. In this paper, I will explore in what manner Desmond’s notion of the community of agapeic service and its plurivocity of ethical practices could actually allow for the other’s promise of being agapeic. This will require a development of his crucial notion of “reverence,” exceeding respect. In no manner a passive attitude, it calls for a real creativity which ‘reveals the generosity of being’. Moreover, the specifics of the “hermeneutical generosity” or “hermeneutics of ontological gratitude”, grounding his metaxological ethics of relation, will be assessed. This hermeneutics will be found to situate itself on the interface of morality and the religious.status: publishe

Affected by Nature. A Hermeneutical Transformation of Environmental Ethics

The value-action gap poses a considerable challenge to normative environmental ethics. Because of the wide array of empirical research results that have become available in the fields of environmental psychology, education, and anthropology, ethicists are at present able to take into account insights on what effectively motivates proenvironmental behavior. The emotional aspect apparently forms a key element within a transformational process that leads to an internalization of nature within one’s identity structure. We compare these findings with studies on environmental activists, which appear to a significantly lesser degree hampered by the value-action gap, thereby attempting to understand what provides them with the drive to act more consistently on their moral attitudes. Hermeneutics is found to play a crucial role in the processes that lead to lasting and consistent motivation toward proenvironmental behavior. An empirically informed hermeneutical approach could therefore provide a promising impetus for contemporary environmental ethics.status: publishe

Celebrating the Between. A Liturgical-Metaxological Experience of Nature and Its Ethical Implications

© 2016, all rights reserved. The liturgy forms an important motif within Eastern-Orthodox Christian ecotheology. In this article, we will explore the manner in which the notion of the liturgical may be meaningful beyond a theological framework, to interpret certain spiritual experiences within the natural world. The philosophy of Jean-Yves Lacoste and William Desmond will prove key in clarifying different aspects of what will be called a liturgical-metaxological experience of nature. The ontological gratitude, originating from such experiences, may engender transformational processes fostering an ethics of generosity. Ascesis, closely linked to the liturgical, provides insight into the behavioural changes made in view of the communion of being. Together, the liturgical and the ascetic form a dynamics that appears to positively alter the discrepancy between environmental values held and actual behaviour, the so-called value-action gap.status: publishe

Introduction: Silent Spring, Raucous Summer, and the Looming Winter of Our Discontent

Item does not contain fulltex