Women of the mysterious forest : women, nature and philosophy : an exploration of self and gender in relation to traditional dualisms in western culture

Abstract

The thesis aims to develop an account of the ecological self and its relationship to nature which takes account both of a feminist perspective and of the critique advanced by recent environmental philosophy, and to understand the role of gender and gendered nature/culture dualism in the development of a human identity alienated from nature in western culture. I argue that the fact that the dominant human identity has been masculinised has been a major aspect of the problem. A major resulting theme is concern with problems in ecofeminism and especially the question of how far an alternative identity can be based on women and the affirmation of the feminine. Chapter One sets e c ological feminism in a political context, examining its relationships to both feminist and green theory. Chapter Two reviews the major literature in the area and its critique of western culture , as well as examining problems arising from it concerning the history of patriarchal culture, the status of the »-body as nature, and tension between accounts stressing dualism and those stressing difference. Chapter Three problematises both liberal feminist (androcentric) and radical feminist (gynocentric) positions, and tries to clarify the range of options to the androcentric model of human identity, and what is defensible in the affirmation of the feminine. Chapters Four, Five and Six d e v e l o p a feminist and historical perspective on environmental philosophy, arguing that dualism — a notion clarified in Chapter Four with the help of gender theory — has shaped not only our concepts of human identity as alien to nature (Chapter Four), but also our concept of nature as mechanism (Chapter Five) . These chapters examine the histo r i c a l legacy of rationalism, while Chapter Six develops a feminist perspective on instrumentalism and on the self. This is built on in Chapter Seven, which also critiques from the p e r s pective of feminist ethics current trends in environmental ethics and deep ecology, arguing that these positions have been insuffic i e n t l y sensitive to the c o n t r i b u t i o n of r a t i onalism to the problem and its continued influence in their philosophical frameworks. Chapter Eight returns to consideration of the major theme of earlier chapters in clarifying the affirmation of the feminine and options for the reconstruction of gender, and presents an account which combines elements of both power and difference analyses. Show more