Publications
from FRIDA database
1. Nature
Mythologies: From the Eddas to Ecophilosophy
Despite
the fact that nature symbols are pervasive in Norwegian culture and
that nature romanticism is one of the most discussed topics in modern
Norwegian intellectual debate, there has been no systematic, historical
approach to nature-informed cosmology and its transformations over the
centuries. This research project is an historical-semiotic attempt to
systematise and explore a tradition which stretches from the Nordic
saga-literature of the pre-Christian period through Petter Dass, Henrik
Wergeland, Fridtjof Nansen, Henrik Ibsen, Knut Hamsun and Arne Næss.
The main argument contests the widely accepted view that the sources
of modern Norwegian perceptions and representations of nature are to
be found in the period called "National Romanticism". Romanticism in
the European sense, it is argued, has never taken roots; it has been
overshadowed by the values of a native, "pastoral enlightenment" and
by an earlier, pragmatic adaptation code to be found in the Eddas. The
study focuses on the ecological narratives, images and actions (e.g.
myths, national rituals, art and literature) which have cemented Norwegian
identity and which have all been drawn into the magnetic field of the
native "nature tradition". Results from the project are be published
as a book (in Norwegian by Pax Forlag, 1998, and in English by Blackwell).
2. Philosophical
Dialogues: Arne Næss and the Progress of Deep Ecology
There
have been a number of works devoted to ecophilosophy but none to-date
has presented the ways in which deep-ecological thought has matured
through dialogue and polemic. In designing this volume Witoszek and
Brennan have had a threefold objective:
- To present
the most crucial confrontations between Næss and his critics
over the last 30 years drawn from sources as diverse as published
scholarly articles, correspondence, television and radio interviews
and unpublished polemics;
- To bring
the debate up to date by inviting Norwegian and international scholars
to comment on the relevance of Næss's vision for present environmental
concerns;
- To probe
the areas of greatest tension and vulnerability within Deep Ecology
and hence to open it to outside critique. Philosophical Dialogues
were published by SUM in 1996 in a limited, leather-bound edition
and the revised edition was published in 1999 by Rowman and Littlefield.
3. Environmental
Ethics and the Humanist Legacy
(Nina Witoszek,
Andrew Brennan, Peder Anker)
The purpose
of the project is (1) to re-examine the present critique of the Enlightenment
legacy as a main source of environmental crises; (2) to explore the
thought and representations of pre-modern Renaissance humanism, especially
its underestimated sceptical, pluralist and ecological aspects; (3)
to determine the ways in which Renaissance ideas of the relationship
between humanity, nature and science provide a starting point for a
renewal of environmental ethics and for rethinking ideas of sustainability.
A partial aim is to extend the range of humanist studies of the environment,
which have been neglected in Norwegian post-Næssian thought and
discourse.
The inspiration for the project is the present deadlock in elaborating
satisfactory foundations for environmental ethics, and in finding a
compelling story which promotes the values of sustainability and modesty
in patterns of consumption.
Our central
argument is that the modernist agenda (including both Enlightenment
and Romanticism) has contributed not only to the death of nature but
also to the gradual abolition of humanity. The research develops an
alternative approach aimed at renewing environmental ethics by drawing
on the inspirations of Renaissance humanism. The project thus attempts
to reconcile the humanist and the environmentalist agendas while retaining
the best aspects of each.
4. Moral
Communities and the Challenges of Modernisation:
A
Comparative Approach
The purpose of the project is threefold:
1) To establish in what way cultural preconceptions inform, enable and
limit what is "politically possible" in the world of ostensibly
rational interest. 2) In particular, to identify the ways in which cultural
legacies (morally charged "founding traditions") in different
European cultures have supported or resisted the project of modernisation.
3) To throw light on the much neglected cultural dimension of European
integration, especially the ways in which varying cultural legacies support
or conflict with the challenge of European citizenship. In what ways are
existing narratives of national identity today reactivated, sidelined
- or replaced - by new images and stories? The study tackles these questions
by comparing the ethical traditions of six European cultures: those of
Germany, Sweden, Norway, England, Ireland and Poland.
Nina
Witoszek's Publications from Forskdok database
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