FROM MECHANISM TO ORGANISM:

THROUGH CHERRISHING THE FEMININE AND NATURE

by Vivienne Elanta (12021131)

ECOFEMINISM S221 26-03-2003

500 word critical thinking essay of Patsy Hallen’s article:

“Why Ecology needs Feminism”

In this multi-dimensional thesis, Patsy Hallen proposes “that if we are to make peace with the environment, ecology needs to be transformed by the knowledge of feminism” (p.93). She strongly believes that science needs to shift from its current mechanical world-view to an organic world-view through a feminist understanding. Science as she sees it is currently dominated by patriarchy, which is one-sided and destructive to the earth. In support of her thesis she draws from psychological, sociological, philosophical and historical sources through what she calls “a spiral, processive way” (p.93).

Patsy Hallen strongly maintains that this one-sidedness cannot be overcome “until our scientific understanding of the living world is mediated by the content of feminist epistemologies – the sensual, the relational and the intimate. Science as a largely masculine endeavour is sexist, which as Patsy Hallen says “is the expression of a basic psychology of domination and repression” (p.94), which has phycho-sexual roots, and need to be investigated in order to “uproot the causes of domination”(P.93).

She also asserts that western moral philosophy is inadequate in cultivating “new ways of seeing”(p.86) in order to bring about an “ecocentric metaphysical reconstruction”(p.86). This western moral philosophy perpetuates the erroneous belief that only humans have moral standing, and regards nature as a mere resource to be plundered. Patsy Hallen says that what underlies the new reconstruction of western moral philosophy is “the unity of nature”(p.87) and that such a moral integrity recognises that “the world is my body”(p.87). In so doing we transcend the very dichotomies which creates male versus female, white versus black, human versus nature, in which the former is always superior.

Patsy Hallen’s argument that ecology needs feminism is very strong and in my view is absolutely correct, because like so many areas of human activity science is largely dominated by a patriarchal mindset. Forged by Francis Bacon and others, this view of putting nature on the rack to be tortured that she may reveal her secrets is still central to most scientific practise, such as the treatment of animals used for vivisection. This world -view is responsible for the environmental degradation that we see all around us. She succinctly points out that “anti-feminist sentiment feeds ecological disaster, from the testing of atomic bombs to using animals as tools of trivial research projects”(p.109).

I do not agree with her when she says, “gender is always asymmetrical”(p.91), unless she refers to western culture only, as there have been cultures such as the Bushmen who do not practice a gender bias. I also do not agree with her suggestion that, “the businessmen’s lack of house-training is a major cause of world pollution”(p.98). Most western women with all the house-training in the world are amongst the greatest polluters as consumers and many pursue a daily practice of pouring large amounts of poisons down the kitchen sink in the name of cleanliness.

In conclusion I think that Patsy Hallen’s article is powerful and inspirational, giving the reader an opportunity to step out of a confined box of a patriarchal, mechanistic world-view. She introduces us to the possibility of a science which is “transformed by the knowledges of feminism”(p.93), cherishing the female, and so birthing a new way of practicing science holistically, which values the feminine and nature.