Rethinking ‘anthropocentric’ nature

A critique of dualism and the problems of space and time

Abstract

Some authors claim that the traditional study of interaction between nature and human society--from an anthropocentric perspective--ignores natural or ecological limits. Therefore, they assert that we must convert our perspective from anthropocentrism to anti-anthropocentrism. However, a historical-cultural perspective shows us that there is no objective nature such as the anti-anthropocentric perspective proposes to represent, which is primarily based on dualism. In this respect, we should understand that nature is a historical construction of a community for the very simple reason that to deny human acts or society means to deny and to exclude the human from nature. In this paper, I will discuss these two perspectives and reveal the utility of adopting an historical-cultural perspective.