Nature and society: a western culture dichotomy
No. 2 (2022-05-01)Author(s)
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Mauricio Nieto OlarteUniversidad de los Andes (Colombia)
Abstract
The distinction between a purely social dimension and a natural one may seem problematic today and, for many, unsustainable and inconvenient. However, the notions of both society and nature and the distinction of a human dimension in opposition to a natural one are an essential part of Western culture. Declaring them outdated or ignoring them is not so simple. Firstly, it is a conception closely related to a religious tradition, typical of monotheistic traditions such as Christianity, which suppose a man created in the image and likeness of the creator and, therefore, clearly distinct from other creatures of the natural world. No less important, these dichotomies between the human and the natural, between the subject and the object of knowledge, constitute the fundamental pillars on which the very idea of modern science has been consolidated. Our revered modern culture and the fields of knowledge that today operate with the legitimacy of traditional scientific knowledge maintain and, we could say, need to maintain this duality.
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Copyright (c) 2022 Mauricio Nieto Olarte
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