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Values.
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DAVID E. COOPER
DepartmentofPhilosophy
ofDurham
University
50 OldElvet
DurhamDH1 3HN
Email:D.E.Cooper@durham.ac.uk
ABSTRACT
KEYWORDS
nature,
Environment, science,technology,
Heidegger
CONTEXTS OF ENQUIRY
Tomanyreaders ofEnvironmentalValues,Martin
Heidegger ( 1889-1976) iswell
knownas almosttheonlytwentieth centuryphilosopher oftheveryfirst rank
tohaveaddressedtheissueofwhathe called'thedevastation oftheearth'and
henceto havebeenconcerned withnaturein thesense,roughly, ofthenatural
environment. His voluminous however,
writings, engagewithmanyotherissues
subsumableundertheheadingof 'philosophy he is a
ofnature'.In particular,
maincriticnotonlyofwhatheseesas ourprevailing attitudes
towards thenatural
environment, butofthepredominant conceptionofnatureinthemodern world.
andexplainhiscriticisms,
In thispaper,I hopeto identify andto demonstrate
theclose connections betweenthemwhichHeideggercertainly tookthereto
be. Onlyin thefinalsectiondo I venture this
beyond broadlyexegeticalaim,
in a
arguing, way Heideggernever, faras I know,explicitly
that as does,that
centraltohiswholecritiqueis hisphilosophy ofthenaturalsciences.
Values14(2005):339-51
Environmental
HorsePress
© 2005TheWhite
thenaturalsciences'ownunderstandingofwhattheyachieve,andthis,inturn,
guaranteesa morecomplete'forgetfulness'
ofthatprimordial notionofnature
thathas succumbedto thederivative
one assumedbythesciences.
Inthefollowing I elaborate
sections, onthemainpointsthatHeidegger makes
ineachcontext ofenquiry,
comment morefullyon theconnections hediscerns
betweenthesepointsand,finally,arguethatit is his reflections
on thestatus
ofthenaturalscienceswhicharepivotalsince,unlessthesearewelltaken,the
claimshe makesintheothertwocontexts lose all ormuchoftheirgrounding.
CONCEPTIONS OF NATURE
INTERCONNECTIONS
Such,takenrelatively areHeidegger'sobservations
separately, on naturemade
in thethreecontextsof his enquiriesintotheontologyof (or conceptionof)
nature,themethodsand statusof thenaturalsciences,and thecharacter of
As
technology. notedearlier,Heidegger takesthere be
to intimate connections
betweentheseobservations.Forexample,thehegemony oftechnology, as I put
it,reinforces
thesciences'ownself-understandingoftheirdeliverances,
which
Iftheremarks intheprevioussectionarewelltaken,thenHeideggerisjustified
inholdingthattheclaimshemakesaboutnature inthethreecontexts ofenquiry
identified In
'hangtogether'. thisfinal I
section, wanttosuggest,as Heidegger
himselfdoes notexplicitly
do to myknowledge, thatthereis a ratherspecific,
andcrucialwaytheyholdtogether. In myjudgement, theclaimshemakesabout
REFERENCES
(a) WorksbyHeidegger
(b) Otherworkscited