Ecofeminism

www.ecofem.org/journal

IN THE SHADOW OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT: FROM MOTHER EARTH TO FATHERLAND by Maria Soledad Iriart
CONTENTS
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. INTRODUCTION ECOFEMINISM THE DEATH OF NATURE AND THE RISE OF SCIENCE THE MASCULINE RE-BIRTH OF HUMANS AND RATIONALISM CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. INTRODUCTION This dissertation examines some ecofeminist critiques of modern conceptions of nature. It focuses on the re-evaluation of the nature conception within western thought, following the emergence of science in the Enlightenment period. It looks at the analysis that some ecofeminist critics have elaborated in relation to the work of two of the “founding fathers” of modern science, Francis Bacon and Rene Descartes, to understand how they re-conceptualised nature and re-associated it with the new conception of women. The focus is on the Enlightenment era because the ideas, then constructed, brought about intellectual, political and economical revolutions that are now considered to be the foundations of our modern western society, economy, politics and beliefs. These have been constructed in a way that is so disengaged from nature that a fatal destruction of nature and a deterioration of social relations have been allowed. Whilst the analysis will be concentrated in the area of science and its epistemology of rationalism, it is recognised that they do not exist in a vacuum and are relevant and inter-connected to other topics, such as religion, economy, politics, etc.

The analysis will use the ecological feminist critiques elaborated in the last few decades by theorists, such as, K. Warren, V. Shiva or M. Mies, and contemporary postmodern approaches, to reject and deconstruct these and any other discourses attempting to establish an absolute ground for knowledge and therefore a breeding ground

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www.ecofem.org/journal for patterns of domination. I aim to show that underlying these conceptions of woman and nature there are dualistic constructions that have proved... [continues]

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