Page 197 - Contribution To Phenomenology

190 ULLRICH MELLE

beyond the scope of the present essay. In this essay I did not present
a tight logical argument for a certain position. As do most of us, I feel
overwhelmed by the complexity of the problem of what, in short, is called
the "ecological crisis," and consequently I am extremely anxious not to
fall prey to simplifications. However, it seems obvious to me that
philosophy and philosophers can not remain indifferent to a crisis of such
magnitude inside the human household and its relation with non-human
nature. According to the young German-Itahan philosopher Vittorio
H5sle, "it is one of the most urgent tasks of present-day philo-
sophy—^which it thus far has hardly taken up—to understand the meaning
of this crisis."^ But what exactly does a philosophical understanding of
the meaning of this crisis consist in? What can and should be the role
of philosophy in the unfolding drama of accelerating nihilistic destruction
and desperate rescue-efforts?
Philosophy itself, of course, is in complete disarray. It does not speak
with one voice. It is itself in a permanent and deep crisis regarding its
purpose, its tasks and its methods. Some would even say that philosophy
has come to an end and that what lives on in university departments
under this name is only a ghost of the deceased. However, the ecological
crisis seems to offer philosophers a chance at new public relevance. It is
widely recognized in the various diagnoses of the crisis of our age that
polluting industries, inefficient technologies, out-dated political structures
and economic mismanagement are only superficial causes of this crisis.
Most often something like a crisis of purpose and values is diagnosed as
the fundamental cause and the common denominator of the various
symptoms of the disease. The latest report of the Club of Rome
diagnoses a deep moral crisis, a dissolution of traditional value sys-
tems—"only materialism remains today as a strong, all-penetrating
negative value"^^—a break-down of ideologies and a lack of global vision.
According to the report "If we want to survive, human wisdom must
quickly be called up."^^ Presently, **we are rich in [scientific and
technological] knowledge but poor in wisdom.'*^^ But to be poor in

^ Vittorio HGsle, "Uber die UnmGglichkeit einer naturalistischen Begrundung
der Ethik," in Wiener Jahrbuch fur Philosophie, Bd. XXI (1989), 15.
^"^ Alexander King, Bertrand Schneider, Die Globale Revolution, 65.
^« Ibid,, 64.
^^ Ibid., 129.