Severing the organic bond turned nature from partner into passive object

Evidence

In the organic world, magicians, metallurgists, and healers viewed themselves as the servants of nature, assisting, mimicing, and perfecting natural processes through art (techné) for human benefit. Thus Paracelsus wrote in his Credo concerning healing: “There is nothing in me except the will to discover the best that medicine can do, the best there is in nature, the best that the nature of the earth truly intends for the sick. Thus I say, nothing comes from me; everything comes from nature of which I too am part.” But elsewhere he wrote that nature exists for human use: “It is God’s will that nothing remain unknown to man as he walks in the light of nature; for all things belonging to nature exist for the sake of man.” Viewed from within the organic context, there is nothing inconsistent in the two statements, yet when the organic bond between nature and human beings is severed, nature becomes a passive object rather than an active partner. — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature, 514

Categorization

• XREF: This precisifies the polyad’s central mechanism (organic-to-mechanistic shift converting active partner into passive object) and pairs directly with the book’s ch3/ch4 claims. — connects to: The organic-to-mechanistic shift reconstructed nature as dead and subordinate — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology,…, 51; Mechanism’s view of dead passive matter sanctioned nature’s exploitation — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology,…, 444; Mechanism stripped away the organic view’s ethical restraints on nature exploitation — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology,…, 480 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Mechanism stripped away the organic view’s ethical restraints on nature exploitation #corroborates (0.88) — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature, 480
• Newtonian passive-matter physics sanctioned nature’s domination for economic development. #corroborates (0.85) — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature, 1028
• Rational self-preservation conquers nature only by imitating nature’s own rigidity #expands (0.72) — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 63