Enlightenment disenchantment makes gratitude toward nature seem irrational

Evidence

In an important article on what she called “the rationality of feeling gratitude toward nature,” the environmental ethicist Karen Bardsley contends with the Enlightenment paradigmatic conception of a denuded, mechanical, and disenchanted nature. In this conception, the feeling of gratitude as a key concept is seen as inappropriate in response to someone’s unintentional decisions, so that if nature is viewed, as is in fact the case, as mere inanimate subject matter, even “stupid,” then the requirement that we ought to feel gratitude to it falls apart. Gratitude, in this conception, is called upon when the benefit accruing to us is motivated by intentionality, and being inanimate, nature cannot choose to help or harm us. Thus the question that arises for Bardsley is, “Is it rational … to feel gratitude toward something that has no intention?” — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 489

Categorization

• QUESTION: Follow Bardsley’s argument to see how she resolves the rationality question.
• XREF: Fits the ADDENDUM ‘Grafting & Growth’ tree essay, whose account of living root bridges and tamarisk air conditioners treats nature as having value. — connects to: The Enlightenment accepts only what conforms to computation and utility; Enlightenment reason is fundamentally a project of self-preservation through mastery of nature; Enlightenment advances not to liberation but to a mythless compliance with nature. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1384