Coemergent eco-consciousness and self-consciousness

Abstract

The metaphysical grounding of the human-environmental relationship has two distinct traditions: metaphysics of mastery and metaphysics of ecosophy. The first one describes the way our human will of flourishing considers the natural world as a realm that in principle is susceptible to being controlled. The natural realm in this conception is considered as resource to be used (Bannon, 2014). On the contrary, the metaphysics of ecosophy, promoted by Arne Naess, proposes a philosophical tradition that argues for a harmony between human and the environment, promoting an alternative idea of human flourishing that is in tune with flourishing of nature. The metaphysics of ecosophy reiterates the primordial of 'we', where 'we' constitute the 'I' (Daly, 2023). These two metaphysical traditions highlight two kinds of phenomenal consciousness. A feeling of power and supremacy, a sense of control, are attached to the metaphysics of mastery. This phenomenal consciousness is related to the intentionality or consciousness that is an integral part of human existence. Human beings, as phenomenologists would argue, are not only affected by things or surroundings, but we are also conscious of the thing and surroundings (Mendelovici and Bourget, 2022). Thereby, in the phenomenal consciousness of sense of control, power does not only affect us by offering a conducive space for human flourishing; rather we are also aware that we as humans, with our creative and imaginative power controlling the natural world, are the masters. This intentionality is so strong and embedded in our existence that it is part of our self-consciousness. Similarly, phenomenal consciousness that arises from the metaphysics of ecosophy offers a feeling of the sublime, surrender and a sense of uncertainty. This eventually makes us aware that we are merely a member of the earth and of our reality of co-existence. This phenomenal consciousness makes us actors. Our actions (labour/ work) become part of our self-consciousness. This volume of Environmental Values juxtaposes these two metaphysical traditions and traces the transition in the human-environment relationship in varied contexts that happened in the past or is going to happen. Readers may easily read this volume with an objective of locating the relationship between metaphysics and ethics of human-environment relationship. However, I would suggest, this volume will add more value to the scholarship of environmental ethics if readers explore the nuances of phenomenological ethics by locating the co-emergence between self-consciousness and eco-consciousness and its significance in valuing the environment.The first entry of this volume by Şerban is Slow ecology: Local knowledge and natural restoration on the lower Danube. This article showcases an epistemological divergence between top-down restoration projects in the Danube flood plain of Belene, dominated by