Although the environmental issue is part of political rhetoric and media speech, the gap between what is said and what is done is getting wider and wider. Current explanations about it, even if partly correct, should be considered incomplete because of the rationalistic representation of man they are based on and its crisis, as opposed to new theories on complex thought and decision making. This paper aims at suggesting the existence of a deeper motive at the root of the environmental paradox, an imaginal one that characterizes Western culture since its beginning: the tight link between corporeality and sense of limit that makes it possible to affirm that “spatial sense”, self-perception in the environment, implies the acknowledgement of one’s own limitedness and dependency from others and from context. A culture that mythicized Prometheus finds this sensation unbearable and tries and successfully removes it from conscience, together with the perception of its own materiality. Cartesian condemnation of res extensa is the start of the environmental issue; to deal with it with a small chance of success, the gap must be filled by critically rethinking the rationalistic foundations of Western culture and working out a new, integrated vision of human nature.
Imago Mundi. L’expérience du corps dans le monde
Fabio D'Andrea
2017
Abstract
Although the environmental issue is part of political rhetoric and media speech, the gap between what is said and what is done is getting wider and wider. Current explanations about it, even if partly correct, should be considered incomplete because of the rationalistic representation of man they are based on and its crisis, as opposed to new theories on complex thought and decision making. This paper aims at suggesting the existence of a deeper motive at the root of the environmental paradox, an imaginal one that characterizes Western culture since its beginning: the tight link between corporeality and sense of limit that makes it possible to affirm that “spatial sense”, self-perception in the environment, implies the acknowledgement of one’s own limitedness and dependency from others and from context. A culture that mythicized Prometheus finds this sensation unbearable and tries and successfully removes it from conscience, together with the perception of its own materiality. Cartesian condemnation of res extensa is the start of the environmental issue; to deal with it with a small chance of success, the gap must be filled by critically rethinking the rationalistic foundations of Western culture and working out a new, integrated vision of human nature.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
