From Anthropocentrism to Human Subjectivity: A Possible Solution to Ecological Crises

Foreign Literature Studies ›› 2020, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (1): 22-33.

From Anthropocentrism to Human Subjectivity: A Possible Solution to Ecological Crises

Nie Zhenzhao

Online:2020-02-25 Published:2021-02-26
About author:Nie Zhenzhao is a professor at the School of International Studies, Zhejiang University (Hangzhou 310058, China), and a research fellow at International Ethical Literary Criticism Research Center (Wuhan 430079, China). He is also a foreign member of Academia Europaea. His main research interests include English literature, comparative literature, and the theory and methodology of Ethical Literary Criticism. Email: niezhenzhao@163.com
Supported by:
“Literary Ethics and Text Studies” (13AWW001) and “Ethical Literary Criticism: Theoretical Construction and Critical Practice Studies” (13&ZD128) both sponsored by the National Social Sciences Fund of China

Abstract

Abstract: The discursive turn from anthropocentrism to nature-centrism in the second half of the 20^th century put the blame squarely on the former for the current ecological crises in an attempt to avert the crises by condemning and cleansing anthropocentrism. In her Silent Spring (1962), Rachel Carson shows the reader that it is the humans who are responsible for the worsening ecological crises around the world today. Solutions to this problem, however, can only come from humans, ourselves. Mankind should clearly understand its subjective identity and its responsibilities as the subject. Despite our inability to be the centre of nature, human beings can still play a subjective role in nature, and, by making ethical choices wisely, find a way out of the ecological apocalypse.

Key words: anthropocentrism, nature-centrism, Silent Spring, Ethical Literary Criticism, ethical choice, ethical identity

Nie Zhenzhao. From Anthropocentrism to Human Subjectivity: A Possible Solution to Ecological Crises[J]. Foreign Literature Studies, 2020, 42(1): 22-33.

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