Alternative Viewpoints: Our World from Different Angles

Nathan Albritton

It’s all about perspective

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Our perspective colors everything that we see and do.

Looking at this map, what comes to mind? What do you think is important?

It’s all about perspective

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How about now?

It’s all about perspective

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How do you think this view shaped people’s actions at the time?

It’s all about perspective

Forests were cleared wholesale, and pollution was openly dumped

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Deforestation in Brazil

During the 19th and 20th centuries, Earth’s resources were viewed as infinite

It’s all about perspective

The first photos of Earth from space were released in 1972, changing our perspective of the world and how we treated it.

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(NASA, 2009)

The Blue Marble

It’s all about perspective

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We now realized that we were but a small speck in a vast sea of darkness. If we wanted to survive, we had to protect this special little speck of life in a

distant corner of the universe.

Icons, Stereotypes and Our Worldview

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Just like the countless generations before us, we also are swayed by stereotypes.

Icons, Stereotypes and Our Worldview

Why do we create stereotypes?9

Icons, Stereotypes and Our Worldview

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When we treat someone as a stereotype, we perceive them as part of a homogenous group.

We brush aside their differences, their thoughts, their dreams, what makes them them – we dehumanize them.

The person that is stereotyped is no longer a person. Once that happens, it is much easier for us to exploit them or at least not feel that we need to ask them their opinions.

What stereotypes can you think of?

What stereotypes have you had to deal with personally?

What else do we stereotype?

Legitimized

The way in which we think about the world legitimizes our treatment of it.

How do you see the world?Humans vs. nature OR humans as part of nature?

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A Little History: Early Western Thought

• Two competing views within Judeo-Christian belief– Nature was given to humans to do as we please– Humans charged to be the guardians of nature

• Everything in nature has a purpose– Humans are on top, so the purpose of everything

else is to serve man– Nature as a tool

• Rise of secular thought did not alter this anthropocentrism– Science seen as a way to restore man’s domination of nature– Nature merely a machine– Backed up by “Laws of Nature”

• Darwin’s ideas seen by others as justification of man’s dominations as a struggle against nature to survive

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Aristotle

A Little History: Other Thoughts

• Idea of “Progress”– Popular thought changed from belief that the world is

in decay– Instead, history seen as a chronology of mankind’s

path to a great civilization– Remains the dominant belief today

• Taoist thought emphasizes everything in nature, including man, should be in balance and harmonious

• Vedic traditions consider man as merely one part of nature– Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, etc.– All parts of nature should try to ease suffering of others– However, mankind still often seen as the highest form

• Modern economic thought (in nearly all societies) reduces nature – often including man – to a utility which is be quantified, bought, and sold for man’s enjoyment– Land, capital, and labor– Even Karl Marx didn’t challenge this 13

(“Joplin Progress,” 1937)

What is “Nature”?

• Nature has different and conflicting meanings– “the way things are;” inevitable; order– The wild, unordered, and seemingly chaotic and nonhuman world

• Nature is seen as something impervious, something we cannot and should not change

• State imposes order out of chaos in nature– Using “laws of nature” as basis– Naming, ranking, and classifying the natural world (stereotyping?)– Attempt to tame nature and make it predictable

• Nature stripped of intrinsic worth; only value is for human needs

• Desire to control nature so that we can keep it static, yet this actually makes it more unpredictable

• Domination and exploitation of nature led to the domination and exploitation of humans

• Modernity seen as a “civilizing process”; civilized through coercion and subjugation14

Perceiving “Nature”

• Humans are animals (Darwin), but nature within them must be tamed (Freud)

• Animals seen as incapable of true consciousness, language, love, laughter, or sadness– Since they don’t really live, they don’t really die

either– Affects perceptions of rights, justice, and

responsibility to non-human life

• “The question is not ‘Can they reason?’ nor ‘Can they talk?’ but ‘Can they suffer?’ ”

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(“Loyal dog guards serviceman’s coffin,” 2011)

(“The 25 Happiest Animals In The World,” 2012)

What Do You See?

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Differing Environmental Values

• Projects such as building a dam or clearing a forest pose an ethical dilemma – Decision is based on one’s values– Underlying values at the heart of many heated debates

• Greek / Hebrew thought teaches that it is not wrong for man to cause nature to fear him, it is a decree from god to do so

• Impossible to sin against non-human beings– Destruction of plants and animals not a sin, unless it harms other humans– Conservation championed if related to human well-being

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How Do We Value Nature?

How valuable do you think this land is?

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(Clark, 2009)

Value of nature often depends on its level of scarcity

Differing Environmental Values

How about now?

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Manhattan Island, New York (Clark, 2009)

What is ethical?

• Modern economics tells us that things are more valuable in the present than the future – Does not take into account the services provided over the

long-term, just its immediate utility

• We value nature, even when we don’t see it– We want to know that it is there

• Nature: Intrinsic value or instrumental value?• Aristotle believed that humans did not have

intrinsic value, only instrumental value for some higher purpose– He justified slavery in these terms– Less rational people serve more rational people – Historically, slaves seen as without feelings or possession of

a soul, justifying their slavery

• We know that non-human beings feel pain, suffer, and experience joy– Are we justified in brushing aside their needs for our own?

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OR

Environmental Values (Singer)

• Western tradition considers human interests above non-human interests– No moral responsibility to consider them

• Modern thought draws moral boundary around sentient beings (i.e. have feelings and consciousness) – Non-sentient beings left out (e.g. trees, plants,

etc.)– Do plants feel pleasure or pain?

• Some believe that all life is one connected organism (Gaia Theory)– If we harm another being, we are ultimately harming ourselves

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(Gerber, 2012)

Now, What Do You See?

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Now, What Do You See?

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Now, What Do You See?

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Now, What Do You See?

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Now, What Do You See?

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A New Perspective

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Once we recognize that a forest is not just a stand of unconscious trees, is it ok to do what we want to with it?

What do you think?

?Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

References & Further Reading

Berkes, F., & Farvar, M. T. (1989). Introduction and Overview in F. Berkes. Common Property Resources: Ecology and Community-Based Sustainable Development, 1-17.Clark, R. (2009). Before New York — National Geographic Magazine. National Geographic Magazine. Retrieved February 14, 2013, from http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/09/manhattan/miller-textDoce, N. (n.d.). Brazil backslides on protecting the Amazon - PhotoBlog. Reuters. Retrieved from http://photoblog.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/03/13103842-brazil- backslides-on-protecting-the-amazon?liteGerber, J. (2012). Domino. Retrieved February 14, 2013, from http://johngerber.world.edu/2012/07/01/mindmap/domino/

Joplin Progress. (1937). Retrieved February 14, 2013, from http://www.flickr.com/photos/24317830@N04/4599535907/Mama Hope. (n.d.). African Men. Hollywood Stereotypes. [mamahope.org]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSElmEmEjb4NASA. (2009, August 11). The Blue Marble. NASA’s Visible Earth. Retrieved from http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.php?id=57723Nealon, J., & Giroux, S. S. (2011). The Theory Toolbox: Critical Concepts for the Humanities, Arts, & Social Sciences (Google eBook) (p. 290). Rowman & Littlefield. Ponting, C. (1992). A green history of the world: the environment and the collapse of great civilizations. Singer, P. (2011). Practical Ethics (Google eBook) (p. 337). Cambridge University Press.

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