Envisioning a Nietzschean land ethic

Kaitlyn Creasy

The Ecological Citizen Vol 3 Suppl C 2020: 15–20

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First published: 4 March 2020 | PERMANENT URL | DOWNLOAD CITATION IN RIS FORMAT

Abstract

In this article, the author employs a Nietzschean lens to deconstruct the nihilistic logic of the Anthropocene, which tends to artificially separate human life from its other-than-human context, thus blocking humanity from recognizing networks of significance that exceed us. This occurs even as Anthropocene logic runs human and other-than-human life together, by making the other-than-human world intelligible only with appeal to human interests and needs. When it assumes that human beings are the primary (if not sole) sources of meaning and value, Anthropocene discourse obscures our embeddedness in a world of value and meaning that exceeds us and our machinations. Insofar as this discourse blocks us from recognizing the ends and values of the other-than-human, it blocks us from discovering new possibilities for being and acting that might make our lives much richer and more meaningful. Furthermore, insofar as Nietzsche's thought allows us to recognize that other-than-human life forms have ends and values of their own – that they are therefore intrinsically valuable – it allows us to recognize that the other-than-human has moral status.

Keywords

Human-nature dualism, Intrinsic value, Values, Visions