In this dissertation I propose an ethical framework for "meeting mosses." At first glance, mosses are a tiny type of plants that have been uncritically understood as "primitive plants," to the extent that they are defined by negation as "non-vascular plants." Hence, mosses have been considered as "primitive" relatives of "true" vascular plants. This distortion is linked to the fact that mosses have been overlooked and represented as a radical otherness in Western civilization. To critically examine this distortion of, and injustice toward mosses, I use the methodology of field environmental philosophy within the conceptual framework of biocultural ethics developed by Ricardo Rozzi. I complement these concepts with foundational philosophical work by continental philosophers Martin Buber and Immanuel Levinas, and ethnobotanist and indigenous writer Robin Wall Kimmerer, with emphasis on their discourses of meeting, "face-to-face," otherness, heterogeneity, and alterity. Collectively thinking with these philosophers, I address the possibility of genuinely "meeting mosses," valuing them as such and not merely as a primitive "relative" or "ancestor" of vascular plants. Drawing on several botanists' accounts of plant language and plant wisdom has sharpened my reading of human-moss interactions and enriched my engagement with the heterogeneity and alterity of the Western philosophical tradition. In his book Gardens: An Essay on the Human Condition, Humanist scholar Robert Pogue Harrison argues that care (for plants and life) is the human vocation. Harrison's discussion of the diversity of "gardens" helped me to clarify multi-dimensional human-moss interactions. In terms of content and structure, I organize my analysis based on two central dimensions of human-plant interactions stated in Rozzi's biocultural ethics: biophysical and cultural, particularly, symbolic-linguistic dimensions. I explore the biophysical dimension of biocultural conservation focusing on mosses in a region where they represent the most diverse and abundant type of plants, southwestern South America. In this region, I conducted fieldwork at three reserves in Chile, Senda Darwin Biological Reserve on Chiloe Island, Magallanes National Reserve, and Omora Ethnobotanical Park in the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve, south of Tierra del Fuego. I investigate the linguistic-cultural dimension, through the scientific binomial nomenclature as well as through the traditional naming by indigenous cultures, particularly in China. Additionally, I examine the arts as an important cultural expression of interacting with mosses that inspires biocultural conservation. I examine the role that the arts play in the education and conservation programs at the Omora Ethnobotanical Park in Chile and Shenzhen Fairy Lake Botanical Garden in China, as a way to invite students and others to have direct encounters with mosses which lead to hands-on (tactile and place-based) moss conservation. I begin this study with a deliberation of the multiple injustices embedded in contemporary social-ecological-cultural dimensions of global change, and I suggest pathways towards caring for plants and the diversity of life. Caring for mosses is not a one-way human-plant-directed process. By nourishing our physical and cultural lives, we can metaphorically say that mosses "take care" of humans. Once we integrate both "caring for mosses" and being sensitive to the "mosses caring for us," then biocultural conservation moves towards a more reciprocal conviviality. In addition to collectively thinking with other humans, metaphorically I aim to think and feel with the mosses, and therefore I am transformed by them. This is the ultimate meaning of "meeting mosses."

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Dans un contexte de crise environnementale et civilisationnelle, les approches sociétales des disciplines du design dénotent l’importance des recherches en design pour une pensée écologique et écosystémique du monde, au travers de la notion de coercition par des dispositifs. Que la cible soit l’usager, le consommateur, le citoyen, le designer lui-même ou les disciplines du design, des stratégies agissant dans le sens d’une émancipation, d’une libération, d’un dé-assujettissement, d’un soulèvement des individus peuvent se percevoir au travers de nouvelles visions, de nouvelles utopies, de chartes et de manifestes. Or, les résultats escomptés, tant sur nos écosystèmes que sur les comportements individuels et collectifs demeurent limités. Toute tentative de régulation des flux de production et de consommation se heurte aux enjeux contemporains d’un capitalisme se renouvelant dans l’accaparement et la marchandisation des critiques qui lui sont destinées. La composante destructrice de ce capitalisme, sur lequel le design s’est appuyé jusqu’à présent, semble corrélée aux comportements consuméristes se catalysant dans l’affirmation d’un sujet individuel, consommateur de ressources. Afin de masquer la terreur fondamentale de sa subjectivité nue, l’individu est devenu écophage dans la mesure où il renouvèle sa condition de sujet individualisé en devenant consommateur de subjectivations. Incidemment, la singularité promise par l’accès aux désirs d’émancipation individuelle s’est transformée en coercition : l’individualisation s’est mutée en servitude volontaire selon un processus égophage. Le système mortifère de ces deux phénomènes phagiques est au cœur du territoire de la thèse qui, proposant de saisir la problématique à partir d’un changement de paradigme de l’individu au travers de son processus d’individuation, offre des pistes de solutions pour le design. Ainsi, le design qui a accompagné, promu et esthétisé le modèle destructeur du consumérisme, doit envisager aujourd’hui une remise en question de son rôle sociétal. Mais pour expérimenter des voies divergentes qui changent nos manières de concevoir le monde, il doit travailler sur l’entendement de l’individu lui-même sur ce monde. Rendre le monde habitable, soit repenser une habitabilité du monde, se révèle être aussi une position coloniale de l’humanité privant l’humanité de réflexions sur son rapport de dépendance au monde. Dans ce nouveau cadre, le rôle d’un design sentinelle peut s’appuyer sur trois stratégies entrevues dans les recherches et pratiques actuelles : 1) une résistance aux dispositifs en évaluant les contraintes sociétales aux dispositifs ; 2) une pratique discrète pour se soustraire au mercantilisme ; 3) une objectivation des individus. Dès lors, le design doit provoquer un changement de paradigme de l’individu, au travers de l’individuation. La relecture du proto design, du design contemporain, de la philosophie et de la critique esthétique soutient l'hypothèse que l’individuation soulève les enjeux d'un design sociétal en révélant, avec l’aide de la pensée complexe, des dispositifs à l'œuvre sur l'individu dont le dénominateur commun est la dialectique sujet/objet. Cette remise en cause implique une décolonisation de la pensée pour une nouvelle réflexion de son rapport de dépendance au monde, autrement que par des processus de subjectivation qui la stipulent. L’habilitation de l’humain à modifier et à détruire selon ses désirs l’environnement est-elle encore viable ? De fait, cette dépendance à la dialectique sujet/objet devrait s’inverser par une ouverture dialogique permettant au design de transition de muter vers une transition du design, le design devant se transformer face aux dispositifs qui le contraignent. Avec la réalisation de contre-dispositifs individuationnistes basés sur l’objectivation, de nouvelles vertus – telles que la reconnaissance et la considération – pourraient favoriser un nouveau rapport objectivé de l’individu. Dans ce cadre, le positionnement traditionnel du design éviterait les dispositifs selon une nouvelle disposition transversale, ce qui permettrait non seulement d’échapper mais aussi de montrer ces dispositifs. Les facteurs d’émancipation de l’individuation – tels que critique, objectivation, actualité et révolte – sont à même d’émanciper un design vecteur d’individuation et de transformation de l’individu. Le design individuationniste pourrait alors adopter une nouvelle posture a-morale en engageant un processus d’objectivation pour devenir un design non plus social mais sociétal. Afin de déjouer ce système écophagie/égophagie, la thèse propose un changement de paradigme de l'individu et de sa relation au bien commun, en envisageant des nouvelles vertus de transcendance à travers le concept de probriété, dérivé de facteurs de natalité, de considération et de reconnaissance. De la substitution de l’individuation à l’individualisation émerge une nouvelle téléologie. Axée sur une pédagogie de la déconstruction des dispositifs, cette nouvelle vision du design permettrait d’enseigner les conditions ontologiques et épistémologiques qui l’ont vu naître. Avec une discipline individuationniste du design, décolonisée de l’économie, se tisse une pensée de l'habitabilité et de l'appropriation du monde qui reconnait et réconcilie la finitude de la terre et de l'humain. / In a context of environmental and civilizational crisis, the societal approaches found in design disciplines point to the importance of design research for an ecological and ecosystemic way of thinking about the world, through the notion of coercion by apparatus. Whether the target is the user, the consumer, the citizen, the designer herself or the design disciplines, strategies to emancipate, liberate, de-subjugate and uplift individuals can be seen in new visions, utopias, charters, and manifestos. Yet the expected results, both on our ecosystems and on individual and collective behavior, remain limited. Any attempt to regulate production and consumption flows comes up against the contemporary challenges posed by a capitalism that is renewing itself by monopolizing and commodifying the criticisms it receives. The destructive component of this capitalism, on which design has hitherto relied, seems to be correlated with consumerist behavior catalyzed by the assertion of an individual, resource-consuming subject. In order to mask the fundamental terror of its naked subjectivity, the individual has become an ecophagus insofar as it renews its condition as an individualized subject by becoming a consumer of subjectivations. Incidentally, the singularity promised by access to the desires of individual emancipation has been transformed into coercion: individualization has mutated into voluntary servitude through a process of egophagy. The mortifying system of these two phagic phenomena lies at the heart of the thesis, which proposes to grasp the problem from the point of view of a paradigm shift of the individual through its individuation process, offering possible solutions for design. Thus, design, which has accompanied, promoted and aestheticized the destructive model of consumerism, must today consider questioning its societal role. But to experiment with different ways of thinking about the world, we need to work on our own understanding of the world. Making the world habitable, i.e. rethinking the world's habitability, is also proving to be a colonial position for humanity, depriving it of the opportunity to reflect on its dependent relationship with the world. Within this new framework, the role of sentinel design can be based on three strategies identified in current research and practice: 1) resistance to apparatus by assessing societal constraints on them; 2) discreet practice to avoid commercialism; 3) objectification of individuals. From then on, design must provoke a paradigm shift in the individual, through individuation. A re-reading of proto-design, contemporary design, philosophy and aesthetic criticism supports the hypothesis that individuation raises the stakes of societal design by revealing, with the help of complex thinking, apparatus at work on the individual whose common denominator is the subject/object dialectic. This questioning implies a decolonization of thought, for a new reflection on its relationship of dependence to the world, other than through the subjectivation processes that stipulate it. Is human empowerment to modify and destroy the environment at will still viable? In fact, this dependence on the subject/object dialectic should be reversed by a dialogical opening that enables transitional design to mutate into a transition of design, with design transforming itself in the face of the apparatus that constrain it. With the realization of individuationist counter-apparatus based on objectification, new virtues - such as recognition and consideration - could foster a new objectified relationship of the individual. In this framework, the traditional positioning of design would avoid apparatus in a new, transversal way, allowing these apparatus to be not only escaped, but also shown. The emancipatory factors of individuation - such as critique, objectification, actuality, and revolt - are capable of emancipating design as a vector of individuation and transformation of the individual. Individuationist design could then adopt a new, a-moral stance, engaging in a process of objectification to become not social but societal design. In order to outmaneuver this ecophagy/egophagy system, this thesis proposes a paradigm shift of the individual and its relationship to the common good, by envisaging new virtues of transcendence through the concept of proberty, derived from factors of natality, consideration and recognition. A new teleology emerges from the substitution of individuation for individualization. Based on a pedagogy of apparatus deconstruction, this new vision of design would teach the ontological and epistemological conditions that saw its birth. With an individuationist discipline of design, a design auctor, decolonized from the economy, weaves a way of thinking habitability and appropriation of the world that recognizes and reconciles the finitude of the earth and the human.

A significant and growing number of authors and commentators have proposed that ecologically enlightened (‘greened’) religion is the solution or at least a major part of the solution to the global ecological crisis. These include Birch, 1965 p90; Brindle, 2000; Callicott, 1994; Gardner, 2002, 2003, 2006; Gore Jr., 1992; Gottlieb, 2006, 2007; Hallman, 2000; Hamilton, 2006b, a, 2007b; Hessel & Ruether, 2000b; Hitchcock, 1999; King, 2002; Lerner, 2006a; McDonagh, 1987; McFague, 2001; McKenzie, 2005; Nasr, 1996; Oelschlaeger, 1994; Palmer, 1992; Randers, 1972; Tucker & Grim, 2000; and White Jr., 1967. Proponents offer a variety of reasons for this view, including that the majority of the world’s and many nations’ people identify themselves as religious, and that there is a large amount of land and infrastructure controlled by religious organisations worldwide. However, the most important reason is that ‘religion’ is said to have one or more exceptional qualities that can drive and sustain dramatic personal and societal change. The underlying or sometimes overt suggestion is that as the ecological crisis is ultimately a moral crisis, religion is best placed to address the problem at its root. ¶ Proponents of the above views are often religious, though there are many who are not. Many proponents are from the USA and write in the context of the powerful role of religion in that country. Others write in a global context. Very few write from or about the Australian context where the role of religion in society is variously argued to be virtually non-existent, soon to be non-existent, or conversely, profound but covert. ¶ This thesis tests the proposition that religion is the solution to the ecological crisis. It does this using a case study of mainstream religion in Australia, represented by the Catholic, Anglican, and Uniting Churches. The Churches’ ecological policies and practices are analysed to determine the extent to which these denominations are fulfilling, or might be able to fulfil, the proposition. The primary research method is an Internet-based search for policy and praxis material. The methodology is Critical Human Ecology. ¶ The research finds that: the ‘greening’ of these denominations is evident; it is a recent phenomenon in the older Churches; there is a growing wealth of environmentalist sentiment and ecological policy being produced; but little institutional praxis has occurred. Despite the often-strong rhetoric, there is no evidence to suggest that ecological concerns, even linked to broader social concerns (termed ‘ecojustice’) are ‘core business’ for the Churches as institutions. Conventional institutional and anthropocentric welfare concerns remain dominant. ¶ Overall, the three Churches struggle with organisational, demographic, and cultural problems that impede their ability to convert their official ecological concerns into institutional praxis. Despite these problems, there are some outstanding examples of ecological policy and praxis in institutional and non-institutional forms that at least match those seen in mainstream secular society. ¶ I conclude that in Australia, mainstream religion is a limited part of the solution to the ecological crisis. It is not the solution to the crisis, at least not in its present institutional form. Institutional Christianity is in decline in Australia and is being replaced by non-institutional Christianity, other religions and non-religious spiritualities (Tacey, 2000, 2003; Bouma, 2006; Tacey, 2007). The ecological crisis is a moral crisis, but in Australia, morality is increasingly outside the domain of institutional religion. The growth of the non-institutional religious and the ‘spiritual but not religious’ demographic may, if ecologically informed, offer more of a contribution to addressing the ecological crisis in future. This may occur in combination with some of the more progressive movements seen at the periphery of institutional Christianity such as the ‘eco-ministry’ of Rev. Dr. Jason John in Adelaide, and the ‘Creation Spirituality’ taught, advocated and practiced by the Mercy Sisters’ Earth Link project in Queensland.

The research focuses on the epistemic tension between Western positivist epistemology and African indigenous knowledge systems particularly Shona proverbs. The research argues that Western epistemological hegemony is both unjustified and unacceptable in the context of the pluriversal understanding of knowledge where systems of knowledge are both multiple and diverse. After a critique of Eurocentric thinking, the research defends an African epistemological paradigm that emerges as an alternative framework for the authentic and legitimate study of African knowledge systems and ways of knowing. The approach opens intellectual space for the philosophical study of Shona proverbs. Under Shona environmental philosophy, it shall be argued that ubuntu respects all aspects of the environment, recognizes the dependence of human beings on the environment, sees the land as sacred and affords responsibility for future generations by encouraging the preservation and conservation of resources. Three Shona proverbs have been used to show how the Shona think about preservation of natural resources, conservation of natural resources and the interdependence between humanity and the natural world. In the context of Shona philosophy of law, it is argued that ubuntu provides the basis of a coherent philosophy of law among the Shona. Shona philosophy of law is a reflection of legal elements and the study draws these elements from selected proverbs. These proverbs have been used to show the metaphysical basis of Shona legal philosophy, the role of the law in protecting the dignity of individuals and the importance of the law in peace building within the community. Concerning political philosophy, the study has argued that ubuntu is the political foundation of solidarity, oneness and mutual support in politics. Shona political philosophy stresses coexistence and relatedness (ukama) within the community. Shona political philosophy maintains that authority should be guided by respect, good governance, solidarity and peace. Under Shona philosophy of economics, themes of human dignity, respect for hard work and the need for moderation in the desire for money are discussed in the context of the Shona philosophical worldview. The proverbs under study contribute to alternative ways of philosophical reflection in the context of the pluriversality of knowledge / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / D.Litt et Phil. (Philosophy)

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<p>I argue in my dissertation that the Marxist ethical claim against capitalism could be bolstered through: 1) a recognition of the inaccurate human ontology that capitalist theories of entitlement presuppose, 2) a reconceptualization and replacement of that old paradigm of human ontology with a concept that I call “organicism” and 3) a normative argument for why this new paradigm of human ontology necessitates a new political economy and a new way of structuring society. I use the debate between Robert Nozick and G.A. Cohen as a launching point for my case.</p> <p><br></p> <p>In his book, <i>Self-Ownership, Freedom, and Equality</i>, G.A. Cohen argues that Robert Nozick’s “entitlement theory” is unable to produce the robust sense of freedom that libertarians and capitalist proponents aggrandize. According to Cohen, the reason for this is due to the limitations and consistency errors produced by the libertarian adherence to the “self-ownership principle.” (the moral/natural right that a person is the sole proprietor of their own body and life). Namely, that the pale freedom that the proletariat enjoys within capitalism is inconsistent with the Libertarian’s own standard for freedom. So, Cohen argues for the elimination of the self-ownership principle. My project picks up where Cohen’s leaves off, claiming that the consistency errors don’t lie in entitlement theory’s use of the self-ownership principle (it is important that we don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater). Rather, the errors lie in the principle’s metaphysics - specifically in the ontology of the human being. The self-ownership principle is only faulty because it presupposes an impossible self. I show that entitlement theory heedlessly presupposes the self (or a human ontology) as a “rational, autonomous, individual.” I then deconstruct each of these three features (rationality, autonomy, and individuality) to show that this picture of the human being is not necessarily incorrect, but it is incomplete.</p> <p><br></p> <p>Although we are indeed rational, autonomous, individual creatures, these are only emergent characteristics that merely arise after the organic and socially interconnected aspects of our selves are nurtured. I encompass these latter features of our selves under the heading: “organicism”. So, my contribution is to provide a different ontological foundation of the human being – “organicism” – to replace the Enlightenment grown: “rational, autonomous, individual”. I draw heavily from Karl Marx’s philosophical anthropology, and G.W.F. Hegel’s theory of the unfolding of Geist/Spirit, with a little inspiration from Aristotle and ecological theory to construct “organicism” – a pancorporealist, naturalistic materialism. It is the theory that the human being is, in essence, an organic creature, inseparable from nature, but <i>through </i>the nurturing of these material, organic, symbiotic relationships (with other humans and with the ecosystem) that these “super”-natural capacities of rationality and autonomy arise along with and because of a <i>full</i> self-consciousness.</p> <p><br></p> <p>Finally, I infer the normative implications of this ontology of subjectivity. This organicist conception of the self has transformational effects on our notions of property and the way we structure society. So, I contend that organicist ontology then serves as the foundation for a normative theory of political economy that sees the flourishing or health (broadly speaking) of the organicist human as the primary ethical goal. I speculate on an alternative political economy that can provide the robust sense of freedom that Nozick’s entitlement theory (capitalism) was lacking because it actually produces the <i>conditions</i> necessary for rationality, autonomy and individual freedom.</p>

Erika Cudworth's Developing Ecofeminist Theory provides a helpful foundation for a non-essentialist, properly intersectional ecofeminist account of oppression, marginalization, and domination, but her rejection of what she refers to as "postmodernism" appears to be based on a misreading of Judith Butler. I attempt to provide a synthesis of Cudworth's framework with Butler, particularly through the use of Karen Barad's agential realism, in order to provide possibility for new alliances between ecofeminism and other anti-oppressive frameworks. I then examine what it might look like to do ecofeminist praxis, given the complex view of agency, ontology, and intersectionality rendered by such a synthesis. I draw from bicycling as an example from which to extrapolate what it means to resist oppression, and then draw from the Philosophy for Children movement to consider what such resistance might look like within the classroom. This dissertation thus attempts to move from theory to practice, recognizing that "the real world" is both always at hand and also subject to performative deconstruction.