What forced the creation of the concept of "ecology" in the later 1800's?
The marriage between scientific knowledge and technology. This marriage realized bacon's ideal - that scientific knowledge would give us technological power over natureAs knowledge grows, so does our technology, and thus so does our potential impact on the planet
Traditionally what roles of society worked with science and which worked with technology?
Science- thought to be aristocratic, speculative, and intellectual Technology - lower-class, empirical, action-oriented
What events led to the marriage of science and technology?
Democratic revolutions in the late 1700's and 1800's, pulled down social barriers and unified science and technology
What is considered the greatest revolution of ideas in the history of Western Culture? Why?
Victory of Christianity over paganismImportant because it changed the way people viewed nature and their destiny (determined by their religion)
Define difference between Christianity and Paganism in terms of Earth's timeline
Paganism - cyclical, no beginning of the worldChristianity - linear, story of creation. God created the world for humans to benefit from. Humans are "special" - share elevated status that transcends nature. - makes Christianity the most anthropocentric religion the world has ever seen
Difference between Christianity and Paganism in terms of spirits
Paganism - everything in nature has its own guardian spirit (humans must appease natural spirits)Christianity - all spirits dwell in heaven; allows people to be indifferent towards natural objects and to exploit nature
What does White argue in regards to our current ecological crisis?
We cannot solve our ecological crisis by applying more science and technology The problem is deeply rooted in our religious view of nature. We still deeply believe ourselves to be superior to nature.
What does White say is the solution to our ecological crisis? What 2 methods are there?
We must rethink our ideas about humans & nature. Reject that nature has no reason for existence. We must either:1) Find a new religion2) Rethink our old one
