Musing about the Land Ethic
概要；土地倫理について考えたい。１９４９年アルド・レオポルドは初めて土地倫理という言葉を使って本を出版した。しかし、土地倫理の概念は随分昔からもう使われた。自分なりの土地倫理は合理的な理想から成り立つ思想。それじゃ、英語で。。。
The qualification that best describes the genre of literature I enjoy isn't one publishers readily include in the front cover of any book I've seen. It can't be labeled as nature, environmental, farming, anti-establishment, fiction or non-fictionwriting. These genres are too specific, too specialized. The label that best fits the literature I enjoy is "Land Ethic" writing.
Be it Henry Thoreau's Walden, Edward Abby's Desert Solitaire, Wendell Berry's The Unsetting of America, Antoine de Saint-Exupery's Le Petit Prince, 福岡正信's わら一本の革命, or 宮沢賢治's 農民芸術概論. All of the works are products of authors discontent with society's parameters. They deal with ideals; something I prefer to call rational idealism.
The Land Ethic appears to contemporary rational thought epitomized by scientific logic. As we've distanced ourselves from myth and religion, science has schooled us in our genetic proximity not only to primates but to protozoa. That in mind, how can humans not be awestruck when witnessing a system as complex as a river, mountain or forest (of course, we don't need science to appreciate their grandeur).
When humans are able to recognize their fallibility, forget their hubris and control their materialism, most realize that each individual is nothing more than a tiny part of a greater whole. I believe this realization is one step towards the idealism inherent in the Land Ethic; namely, the ethics we extend to humans don't stop there. They're applicable to other living beings: whether they be dogs, or ladybugs, plankton to rocks (what is life if not change over time), weeds or ecosystems.
Like the ethics (or rather the ones that should be) enveloping the human sphere, an ethic towards the land is likewise a reciprocal "good". We are "good" to other in order to receive their "good" or in worst case scenario, not be subject to their "bad". An ethical code towards the land is arguably more desirable. If we're "good" to land, not only will we be rewarded, the land will be "good" to our progeny. "Good" to others involves cooperation, understanding and compassion, similarly "good" to land must include like sentiments.
Such an ethic vis-a-vis the land can be described as rational idealism. Pure idealism would limit the Land Ethic to the realm of "non-realists": philosophers and dreamers (not a bad realm in itself). However, I believe the rationality of the "ideal" should be apparent to even the most self-serving realist. Rational because it serves the individual when being ethical.
Word List
| musing
|
思いにふける
|
fallibility
|
間違いやすい
|
| Land Ethic
|
土地倫理
|
hubris
|
自信過剰
|
| genre
|
分野
|
inherent
|
固有の
|
| parameter
|
限界
|
enveloping
|
包囲する
|
| epitomize
|
集約的に示した
|
reciprocal
|
相互の
|
| proximity
|
接続
|
realm
|
領土
|
| awestruck
|
畏敬の念に打たれた
|
|
|
Ｂａｃｋ Ｔｏ Ｔｏｐ
