Relational Values: A Whiteheadian Alternative for Environmental Philosophy and Global Environmental Justice
Relational Values: A Whiteheadian Alternative for Environmental Philosophy and Global Environmental Justice
Author(s): Barbara MuracaSubject(s): Philosophy, Ethics / Practical Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Special Branches of Philosophy, Philosophy of Law
Published by: Институт по философия и социология при БАН
Keywords: relational values; Whitehead; axiology; environmental justice; decolonizing nature
Summary/Abstract: In this paper I develop a framework for environmen-tal philosophy on the ground of what I call a radical rela-tionalism based on Whitehead’s thought. Accordingly, relations are ontologically prior to and constitutive of entities rather than being conceived as external link(ing) between them. On this ground an alternative, relational axiology can be developed that challenges the current environmental ethics debate and its dichotomy between intrinsic and instrumental values. In the last section, I show how such an axiology can become an important ally for global environmental justice struggles and help sup-port what the anthropologist Arturo Escobar calls a “de-colonial view of nature.”
Journal: Balkan Journal of Philosophy
- Issue Year: VIII/2016
- Issue No: 1
- Page Range: 19-38
- Page Count: 20
- Language: English