Metaphysical unity with nature justifies exploitation no less than conservation

Evidence

It is unclear how such a solution to removing human/nature dualism, by obliterating any human/nature distinction and dissolving self boundaries, is supposed to provide the basis for an environmental ethic. The analysis of humans as metaphysically unified with the cosmic whole will be equally true whatever relation humans stand in with nature—the situation of exploitation of nature exemplifies such metaphysical unity equally as well as a conserver situation, and the human self is just as indistinguishable from the bulldozer and Coca Cola bottle as the rocks or the rainforest. What John Seed seems to have in mind here is that once one has realised that one is indistinguishable from the rainforest, its needs will become one’s own. But there is nothing to guarantee this—one could equally well take one’s own needs for its. — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 671

Categorization

• XREF: Directly feeds the Eco-Justice course; the bulldozer/Coca-Cola example shows why indistinguishability metaphysics cannot ground an ethic — parallels Naomi Klein and eco-justice critiques of abstract holism. — connects to: Instrumentalism treats the other as mere means without any limiting agency — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 522; Claiming to merge with another is itself an arrogance of master consciousness — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 672; Denying dependence on nature sustains non-sustainable resource use. — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 104 (+6 more)
• SEED: Essay angle: the ‘identification/unity’ argument for protecting nature fails because it grants no independent standing — a unitarian metaphysics is apolitical.

Broader Connections

• Vitalism’s monistic worldview inherently restrains the exploitation of nature #contradicts (0.90) — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature, 933
• Animist vitalism functioned as an ethic restraining exploitation of nature #contradicts (0.90) — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature, 158
• Commodifying nature as economic resource spans all ideologies #corroborates (0.80) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2523
• Preserving nature within civilization always means dominating it more completely #corroborates (0.80) — Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia, 145
• Human marginalization and ecological exploitation share one root of value-hierarchized thought #complicates (0.72) — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education, 126