The warrior-hero’s choice of honour over life structures Plato’s devaluation of nature
Evidence
As Nancy Hartsock has argued (1985), many of the features of Plato’s treatment of the lower order of nature can be seen to flow from the choices of the warrior-hero in a system which confers honour and status in terms of preparedness to risk life in combat. The choice of the warrior-hero is the choice of spirit, honour and reputation over life, of culture over nature. — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 377
Categorization
- XREF: This warrior-hero origin-story for the master/dualism axis is a causal mechanism Eco-Justice and ecofeminist critique would want — and it connects to the militarism thread of Plato chapter 12 earlier in this same book. — connects to: Otherworldly salvation defines the human self as oppositional to nature — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 384; Plato’s earth-mother myth promoted militarism, not environmentalism. — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 281; A single reason-over-nature dualism structures every domain of Plato’s philosophy — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 312 (+5 more)
Broader Connections
- Plato’s devaluation targeted internal nature for discipline, not external nature for control
#qualifies(0.86) — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 411 - Descartes relocated the Platonic devaluation of nature from virtue into consciousness
#expands(0.78) — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 423 - Plato’s otherworldly identity framework was engineered to cancel death
#expands(0.74) — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 376