Ecological Self-Understanding: A Cross-Cultural Epistemic Virtue in Contemporary Native American and Confucian Philosophy
Ecological Self-Understanding: A Cross-Cultural Epistemic Virtue in Contemporary Native American and Confucian Philosophy
Jesse Butler
ABSTRACT
Cross-cultural analyses often emphasize differences between worldviews. While there are significant differences across the diverse ways that humanity has understood itself, the tendency to emphasize differences can obscure important and revealing commonalities between worldviews as well. The goal of this article is to identify one such commonality among indigenous worldviews and their capacity to address our collective ecological well-being together on planet Earth. Specifically, I will argue that contemporary philosophers Viola Cordova and Tu Weiming exhibit ecological self-understanding as an epistemic virtue in their conceptions of human existence. Ecological self-understanding (ESU) is veridical acknowledgement of human beings as embodied agents in the world, fundamentally situated within interdependent relations between self and environment. As contemporary exemplars of Native American and Confucian philosophy, respectively, Cordova and Tu illustrate how both worldviews exhibit ESU and thereby serve as models toward the cultivation of ecological well-being.
To share on other social networks, click on any share button. What are these?
