An Ecological Politics of Everyday Life: Placing Flesh on Whitehead's Process Philosophy in Search of "Green" Possibilities

Author: Carolan, Michael S.¹

Source: World Views: Global Religions, Culture, and Ecology, Volume 12, Number 1, 2008 , pp. 51-73(23)

Publisher: BRILL

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Abstract:

This paper highlights the significance of embodied, non-representational knowledge for understanding nature as a process (rather than a state). It begins by discussing Alfred North Whitehead's "first philosophy", out of which arises his profoundly original process ontology. Working from this alternative ontology, the paper then extends these insights "up" to the realms of knowledge, practice, and the corporeal poetics of everyday life. In doing this, discussion centers on what the author refers to as an ecological politics of everyday life. The paper concludes by briefly discussing a case where such a politics of the flesh is already underway.

Keywords: ENVIRONMENT; KNOWLEDGE; PHILOSOPHY OF ORGANISM; MERLEAU-PONTY; SCIENCE; WHITEHEAD

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1163/156853508X276833

Affiliations: 1: Department of Sociology, B236 Clark, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1784, USA

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