Graduation Date
1979
Document Type
Thesis
Program
Other
Program
Arts
Committee Chair Name
Dr. William Devall
Committee Chair Affiliation
Cal Poly Humboldt Faculty or Staff
Second Committee Member Name
Dr. Pat Wenger
Keywords
Art
Subject Categories
Art
Abstract
The modern industrial world is facing a number of crises. This work focuses on the emerging ecological crisis and associated problems. These problems are not studied from a natural science standpoint, but rather from perspectives drawn from the humanities, psychology, and sociology. Ecology is a vast and a varied field. It incorporates biology, chemistry, and physios to study the living organism in relation to its environment. It also has an important human dimension involving environmental psychology and sociology within the field of Human Ecology, The present work is largely devoted to exploring diverse aspects of ecological humanism and environmental psychology as well as sociology. Few of the hotly debated ecological issues of the day, such as the question of using nuclear energy to generate electricity or the merits of off-shore drilling, are discussed. Rather, broad and general themes are brought to light which bear directly on environmental concerns, but which rarely make newspaper headlines. The first two chapters deal with the humanities and how they fit into understanding and solving the environmental morass. Chapter two, "The Human Relationship to Nature,*’ looks at the human issues of relating to nature. It considers the historic and contemporary place of attitudes and values in society and how they affect human behavior in the environment. Some philosophical aspects of political theory are analyzed with regard to their environmental shortcomings. The human relationship to nature is then examined in terms of ecological ethics, art, and religion. These three humanities really form the heart of the person-nature relationship. The collective result of their activities on nature is termed the humanization of nature. The third chapter, ’‘The Crisis of Humanizing Nature," attempts to view the destruction of the environment as a humanizing crisis rather than mere technological mismanagement. It argues that humankind’s humanity is at stake in whether or not it succeeds in maintaining a good human relationship to nature. The chapter argues that human imagination and the genus loci , or Spirit of Place, are being destroyed by the over-rational mental powers of humankind and its misapplied technology. Four types of environmental states are posited, two of which are the positive results of humanization and two of which are not. The latter part of the chapter discusses specific causes of the environmental crisis, such as: ecological ignorance, unecological attitudes and values embodied in notions of economic and technological growth, the profit motive of capitalism, and dualistic religious and scientific conceptions. The next two chapters move the discussion from ecological humanism to environmental psychology and sociology. The fourth chapter, entitled "Eco-Mind,’’ relies heavily on the cybernetic psychoanalytic theory of Gregory Bateson. This chapter attempts to comprehend environmental problems from a psychological perspective. Three types of psychological stages, which together comprise "Eco-Mind,” are described, each based on increasing the quality and intensity of the human relationship to nature. A discussion of the physiological and psychological basis of consciousness is presented, followed by an examination of the problems of technological control and alienation. The last section offers a psychological corrective to the western cartesian dualism of mind versus matter. It does this by utilizing cybernetic and psychoanalytic theory, Cartesian dualism is unecological because it separates mind and matter. Mind is narrowly confined to humankind and the natural world is regarded as mindless matter. The ethical and religious effect of this has been to see the natural world as meaningless, without value or purpose except as it serves some utilitarian function. Since the seventeenth century, modern mainstream science has rested entirely on cartesian dualism uncritically accepting mind, on the one hand, and matter, on the other. But Eco-mind does not accept this dualism and is, in fact, opposed to it. At its best Eco-mind is an ethical, aesthetic, and religious fusion of humanity and nature, mind and matter. To achieve Eco-mind, many outworn and outdated dualist concepts must be replaced by newer, more ecologically sound ideas. In addition humankind must develop higher unity and integration within it: primary process (the unconscious mind or human imagination) must be reasserted and integrated with secondary process (the rational conscious mind). Chapter Five, "Social Eco-Mind," goes on to hypothesize how Eco-mind can be fostered in modern culture and what its effect would be on technology and social organization. Using a modified heuristic model by Leslie White, the chapter argues that an Eco-mind philosophy must be articulated, and accepted culturewide, primarily through education. After gaining acceptance, Eco-mind philosophy would transform the scale of technology and redirect its applications. With technology altered in accordance with human and ecological requirements, social organization would be restructured to achieve a decentralized, ecologically harmonious, human relationship to nature. Considered as a whole, this thesis covers a number of diverse topics. It is hoped, however, that it has enough logical cohesion to enable the reader to view the environmental crisis from a new perspective. If it succeeds in this, it will have served its major purpose.
Recommended Citation
Sharak, James S., "Eco-Mind: Nature, Humankind, and Mind" (1979). Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects. 2372.
https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/etd/2372