REFERENCE:

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS: LINK: http://cup.columbia.edu/book/dark-ecology/9780231177528

PART-1: WHAT THE SOURCE DOCUMENT SAYS

Timothy Morton argues that ecological awareness in the present Anthropocene era takes the form of a strange loop or Möbius strip, twisted to have only one side. Deckard travels this oedipal path in Blade Runner (1982) when he learns that he might be the enemy he has been ordered to pursue. Ecological awareness takes this shape because ecological phenomena have a loop form that is also fundamental to the structure of how things are. The logistics of agricultural society resulted in global warming and hardwired dangerous ideas about life-forms into the human mind. Dark ecology puts us in an uncanny position of radical self-knowledge, illuminating our place in the biosphere and our belonging to a species in a sense that is far less obvious than we like to think. Morton explores the logical foundations of the ecological crisis, which is suffused with the melancholy and negativity of coexistence yet evolving, as we explore its loop form, into something playful, anarchic, and comedic. His work is a skilled fusion of humanities and scientific scholarship, incorporating the theories and findings of philosophy, anthropology, literature, ecology, biology, and physics. Morton hopes to reestablish our ties to nonhuman beings and to help us rediscover the playfulness and joy that can brighten the dark, strange loop we traverse.

ABOUT TIMOTHY MORTON

His books include Ecology Without Nature (2007); The Ecological Thought (2010); Hyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology After the End of the World (2013); and Realist Magic: Objects, Ontology, Causality (2013); and he has published more than 150 essays on ecology, philosophy, art, literature, music, architecture, and food. He has collaborated with several artists, including Björk, Jennifer Walshe, Olafur Eliasson, Haim Steinbach, Emilija Škarnulytė, and Pharrell Williams, and blogs regularly at ecologywithoutnature.blogspot.com.

PART-2: CRITICAL COMMENTARY

IN SUPPORT OF THE TIMOTHY MORTON POSITION THAT HE WANTS HUMANITY TO GIVE UP MANY OF ITS SACRED BELIEFS SUCH AS THE FANTASY THAT HUMANS CONTROL THE PLANET WE PRESENT LINKS BELOW TO POSTS ON THIS SITE IN SUPPORT OF THIS TIMOTHY MORTON POSITION.

POINT#1: ANTHROPOCENE: There is no such thing as “The Anthropocene” where humans have taken control of nature and of the planet itself. The Anthropocene is an impossiblity and a creation of an exaggerated human self image and the unconstrained human imagination. Related post on the Anthropocene Fallacy: https://tambonthongchai.com/2018/07/13/the-anthropocene-fallacy/

POINT#2: THE HUMAN SELF IMAGE

THE HUMAN SELF IMAGE AND ITS IMAGINARY GOD LIKE ROLE OF THE HUMANS, NOT AS PART OF NATURE BUT AS THE MANAGERS AND CARETAKERS OF NATURE. DESPITE THE SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCE OF THE HUMANS, THESE IMAGINARY ROLES OF HUMANS ON EARTH, NOT ONLY AS THE CARETAKERS OF THE OTHER SPECIES, BUT TO EQUATE THE ROLE OF THE HUMANS WITH THE GEOLOGICAL FORCES OF THE PLANET ARE THE CREATION OF IMPOSSIBLE EXAGGERATED SELF IMAGE OF THE HUMANS THAT IS BEST UNDERSTOOD IN THE CONTEXT OF ITS EVOLUTION THAT HAS BEEN SO RAPID THAT ITS INTERPRETATION HAS BEEN UNCONSTRAINED. A MORE FUNDAMENTAL CONSIDERATION IS THAT AN OBJECTIVE ANALYSIS OF THE ROLE OF THE HUMANS ON THE PLANET CANNOT BE ASSESSED BY THE HUMANS THEMSELVES.

CONCULSION AND BOTTOM LINE

1. THERE IS NO ANTHROPOCENE
2. HUMANS ARE JUST ANOTHER SCPECIES OF MAMMALS AND NOT THE MANAGERS AND CARETAKERS OF THE WORLD.
3. THE ENERGY AND TIME SCALE OF GEOLOGICAL FORCES THAT HAVE SHAPED THIS PLANET ARE FAR BEYOND BY ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE THE IMPACT OF HUMANS ON EARTH.

RELATED POSTS ON THE ANTHROPOCENE

LINK#1: ECO FEAROLOGY IN THE ANTHROPOCENE: https://tambonthongchai.com/2010/05/16/171/

LINK#2: PLANETARY ENVIRONMENTALISM IN THE ANTHROPOCENE: https://tambonthongchai.com/2020/07/31/planetary-environmentalism-in-the-anthropocene/

LINK#3: THE HOLOCENE IS THE ANTHROPOCENE: https://tambonthongchai.com/2020/12/07/the-holocene-is-the-anthropocene/

LINK#4: ANTHROPOCENE THE EVIDENCE: https://tambonthongchai.com/2020/12/24/anthropocene-the-evidence/

LINK#5: HUMAN CAUSED MASS EXTINCTION: https://tambonthongchai.com/2021/11/28/human-caused-mass-extinction/

LINK#6: WILL STEFFEN THE ANTHROPOCENE MAN: https://tambonthongchai.com/2021/07/04/will-steffen-the-anthropocene-man/

LINK#7:

HUMAN CAUSE IN THE ANTHROPOCENE: https://tambonthongchai.com/2021/05/12/human-cause-in-the-anthropocene/

LINK#8:

THE PLANETARY REACH OF THE HUMANS: https://tambonthongchai.com/2020/03/30/the-humans-must-save-the-planet/

CONCLUSION: The crust of the planet where we live is an insignificant portion of the planet. Life on earth is an insignificant portion of the crust of the planet. Humans are an insignificant portion of life on earth. Although it is true that humans must take care of their environment, we propose that the environment should have a more rational definition.