Page 195 - Contribution To Phenomenology

188 ULLRICH MELLE

Gestalt-philosophy speaks of the "relational-field-view." Everything is what
it is as a knot in a relational net and "a person is a part of nature to
the extent that he or she too is a relation junction within the total
field."^^
This relational conception of the self, Deep Ecology thinkers insist,
should not be mistaken as a denial of individuation, it does not mean
that all is one and it does not imply an oceanic dissolution of the
individual in an undifferentiated whole. But our ontological individuation
is not self-referential, it is essentially relational, so that the relations
cannot be separated from the individual. Maturation of the self can then
be understood as the growth of the narrow egoistic self towards the
social and ecological Self. The self realizes that its true self-interest
reaches much further than the bounds of the narrow self, it identifies
with that which it recognizes is not separable from but is an integral
part of it. In defending nature in its richness and diversity against the
destructive forces of the industrial technosphere, I am defending my
integrity.
It is certainly a thesis worth considering that we are under-estimating
our empathetic and spiritual potentialities because the capitalist
money-economy is dependent upon, and therefore continuously reinforces,
a psychologically immature, narrow self. But are there not limits to our
ability for social and ecological identification? Can we not equaUy
over-estimate ourselves in this regard? Besides, if I really identify as
intensely and comprehensively as possible with the Other, does this not
imply that I have to bear the immeasurable amount of pain and suffering
in the world? But as I shall never be able to alleviate more than a tiny
part of this suffering, will not total resignation and desperation be the
consequence? The concept of the ecological self still needs further
refinement.
The ideal of self-realization, of course, is a normative concept. It is
the top-norm in Naess' and other Deep ecologists' own personal
ecosophy. Naess distinguishes between eco-philosophy and ecosophy.
Whereas the first is a theoretical academic discipline, the second is a
personal philosophy, a total world view on the basis of which a person
decides and acts. Such a total view is, if articulated, a hierarchical system
of derivations from ultimate normative and factual premises. According

^^ Arne Naess, Ecology, Community and Lifestyle, translated and edited by
David Rothenberg (Cambridge University Press: 1989), 56.