Darwinian Humanism and the End of Nature

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In this Subject: Ecology ,&nbsp; Philosophy
By this author: Kirkman, Robert

Author: Kirkman, Robert

Source: Environmental Values, Volume 18, Number 2, May 2009 , pp. 217-236(20)

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Abstract:

Darwinian humanism proposes that environmental philosophers pursue their work in full recognition of an irreducible ambiguity at the heart of human experience: we may legitimately regard moral action as fully free and fully natural at the same time, since neither perspective can be taken as the whole truth. A serious objection to this proposal holds that freedom and nature may be unified as an organic whole, and their unity posited as a matter of substantive truth, by appeal to teleology. In particular, I consider Hegel's account of the emergence of Absolute Spirit, weigh its advantages and disadvantages as an approach to human moral experience and as a strategic move for environmentalists, and conclude with a refinement of Darwinian humanism and a clarification of its implications for environmental ethics.

Keywords: moral agency; teleology; phenomenology; Kant; Hegel; Darwin

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.3197/096327109X438071