3
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. C. Tobias, J. G. Morrison, On the Nature of Ecological Paradox,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64526-7_1
Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 Ecological Interpolations
We call this treatise, or Tractatus—in homage to both Baruch (Benedict de) Spinoza
(1632–1677) and Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951)—On The Nature of Ecological
Paradox, knowing full well that its “causes and consequences” are the real clue to
an Anthropocene that has, to date, been analyzed for its inflictions on the natural
world, which are unprecedented in their cruelty.
SARS-CoV-2 (or Covid-19), climate change, extinctions, global pollution,
human progress for some but not for most, vast inequities between species: These
are only some of the most recent ecological pandemics that are, at heart, a prime
lesson in paradox and pain. Ultimately, a healthy, well-balanced individual should,
theoretically, make for a healthy planet. However, even in health, as in sickness,
humanity has shown so many hostile predilections with respect to other life forms,
that today we have no baseline for assuring reasonable correlations between human
behavior and the options for successful furtherance and interactive vitality among
other species.
Such escalating facets of the human experience question the very substance and
verity of our notions of evolution and natural selection against a pressing context of
ethics. Ethics that are phronetic (born of practical wisdom), dispositional as the
vicissitudes of life dictate, silent, pragmatic, consequential, teleological, eudaemonist, self-effacing and rationalizing, absolutist, situationist, overtly volitional,
and the like. These are just some of the philosophical traditions key to any thorough
examination of the history of the natural sciences within a contemplative and
unstinting context of analysis. And its many tentacles of speculation are fraught
with paradox.
Paradoxical in that a hominid that for so long has prided itself on species success
has done so only at an extreme cost to the rest of the biological planet. One most
recent example involves the so-called “wet markets” throughout much of the world,
where shoppers demand that their food be animals, and that those sentient beings be
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. C. Tobias, J. G. Morrison, On the Nature of Ecological Paradox,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64526-7_1
Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 Ecological Interpolations
We call this treatise, or Tractatus—in homage to both Baruch (Benedict de) Spinoza
(1632–1677) and Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951)—On The Nature of Ecological
Paradox, knowing full well that its “causes and consequences” are the real clue to
an Anthropocene that has, to date, been analyzed for its inflictions on the natural
world, which are unprecedented in their cruelty.
SARS-CoV-2 (or Covid-19), climate change, extinctions, global pollution,
human progress for some but not for most, vast inequities between species: These
are only some of the most recent ecological pandemics that are, at heart, a prime
lesson in paradox and pain. Ultimately, a healthy, well-balanced individual should,
theoretically, make for a healthy planet. However, even in health, as in sickness,
humanity has shown so many hostile predilections with respect to other life forms,
that today we have no baseline for assuring reasonable correlations between human
behavior and the options for successful furtherance and interactive vitality among
other species.
Such escalating facets of the human experience question the very substance and
verity of our notions of evolution and natural selection against a pressing context of
ethics. Ethics that are phronetic (born of practical wisdom), dispositional as the
vicissitudes of life dictate, silent, pragmatic, consequential, teleological, eudaemonist, self-effacing and rationalizing, absolutist, situationist, overtly volitional,
and the like. These are just some of the philosophical traditions key to any thorough
examination of the history of the natural sciences within a contemplative and
unstinting context of analysis. And its many tentacles of speculation are fraught
with paradox.
Paradoxical in that a hominid that for so long has prided itself on species success
has done so only at an extreme cost to the rest of the biological planet. One most
recent example involves the so-called “wet markets” throughout much of the world,
where shoppers demand that their food be animals, and that those sentient beings be