Sunday, June 25, 2017

"Mother Nature might be lovely, but moral she is not. She doesn’t love us or want what’s best for us" *Aeon essay)

THIS article takes me back to one of my first sketches of the naturalism behind bleak theology (see my posts "Misanthropology and Bleak Theology" HERE and "The Ruthlessness of Metaphysics" HERE).  The Aeon essay and those posts have alot in common.  From the Aeon essay the below stood out in particular:
Nature can seem as inspiring, beautiful, strong and nurturing as a mother, but it would be foolish to believe that this ‘mother’ loves us. There’s no reason we can’t celebrate her glorious natural gifts while also appreciating the important ‘unnatural’ improvements our fellow humans have created. 
I think the last sentence begs the thought of how nature and culture relate, with nature being the more encompassing category as the "unnatural" is still nature.  We must remember that nature is whatever is in whatever way it is. Thus nature's scope encompasses a full range of value of what is - both bleak and bright, natural or "unnatural," beautiful or abhorrent.