Instrumentalism treats the other as mere means without any limiting agency

Evidence

I shall characterise instrumentalism with respect to nature here, as elsewhere (Plumwood and Routley 1979; Plumwood 1980; 1991b) as the kind of use of an earth other which treats it as entirely a means to another’s ends, as one whose being creates no limits on use and which can be entirely shaped to ends not its own. We must distinguish instrumentalism in this strong sense from the sort of use of the other which does not reduce that other to an instrument for use. In this second case, even where the other’s agency is overridden by the user’s own in the process of bringing it into use, it is acknowledged as more than a means to these ends, as an independent centre of striving which places limits on the self and on the kinds of use which may be made of it. Instrumentalism is a mode of use which does not respect the other’s independence or fullness of being, or acknowledge their agency. Its aim is to subsume the other maximally within the sphere of the user’s own agency. It recognises no residue or autonomy in the instrumentalised other, and strives to deny or negate that other as a limit on the self and as a centre of resistance. In these terms it is easy to see the role the Cartesian ‘death of nature’ has played in encouraging the pervasive instrumentalism regarding nature which characterises modernity. — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 522

Categorization

• DEFINE: Plumwood gives the book’s operative definition of ‘instrumentalism,’ distinguishing strong (reductive use) from ordinary use that respects the other’s independence.
• XREF: Directly extends Merchant’s ‘death of nature’ thesis, giving the mechanism by which mechanism licenses instrumental use. — connects to: Metaphysical unity with nature justifies exploitation no less than conservation — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 671; Claiming to merge with another is itself an arrogance of master consciousness — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 672; Abortion conflict turns on whether women are instrumentalized, not on foetal status alone — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 757 (+3 more)
• ADDENDUM: The mechanism by which nature’s death licenses instrumental treatment bears on all three published articles’ shared thread of what domination requires.

Broader Connections

• Modern power fuses instrumentalism with force while premodern force stayed constrained by higher precepts #expands (0.85) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 386
• Practical consciousness is non-reflective and discloses the world as instrumentality #qualifies (0.75)
• Instrumental rationality’s dominance results from system-lifeworld uncoupling, not from reason’s inherent dialectic. #corroborates (0.72) — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 395