Premodern nature was a female imagined alternately as nurturing mother and wild disorder

Evidence

Central to the organic theory was the identification of nature, especially the earth, with a nurturing mother: a kindly beneficent female who provided for the needs of mankind in an ordered, planned universe. But another opposing image of nature as female was also prevalent: wild and uncontrollable nature that could render violence, storms, droughts, and general chaos. Both were identified with the female sex and were projections of human perceptions onto the external world. The metaphor of the earth as a nurturing mother was gradually to vanish as a dominant image as the Scientific Revolution proceeded to mechanize and to rationalize the world view. The second image, nature as disorder, called forth an important modern idea, that of power over nature. — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature, 77

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes the two feminine nature-images (nurturing mother vs. disorder) that anchor the whole book’s argument.
• ADDENDUM: The ‘nature as disorder calling forth power over nature’ move feeds the sacrifice framing in the published article on ritual sacrifice as stabilizer.
• XREF: connects to: Premodern Europeans personified nature as a female being of many guises — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology,…, 70; Woman’s subjugation symbolizes the mastery of nature that defines civilization — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 255; Premodern thinkers conceived the cosmos as a living male-female animal — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology,…, 449 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Woman’s subjugation symbolizes the mastery of nature that defines civilization #expands (0.85) — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 255
• Woman embodies Nature, whose ambivalence makes her both ally and enemy to man #corroborates (0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 324
• The female earth was central to premodern organic cosmology #corroborates (0.85) — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature, 61
• Premodern miners treated mining as violating the Earth Mother’s sacred body #exemplifies (0.80) — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature, 81
• Conquering nature is mythically gendered as conquering woman #corroborates (0.80)
• Premodern thinkers conceived the cosmos as a living male-female animal #qualifies (0.75) — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature, 449
• Pre-agricultural societies attributed to women a mystical power over fertility and crops #expands (0.75) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 173
• Ecofeminism revalues a women-nature connection the west historically devalued to oppress women #responds-to (0.70) — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 60