Ecophilosophy
FW-FMC1007
2021-2022
Jurian Traas
,Contents
WEEK I: NATURE.................................................................................................................................................3
PIERRE HADOT.......................................................................................................................................................3
The Veil of Isis..................................................................................................................................................4
HANNAH ARENDT...................................................................................................................................................5
The Human Condition......................................................................................................................................8
WEEK II: ECOLOGY............................................................................................................................................9
GREGORY BATESON................................................................................................................................................9
Steps to an Ecology of Mind..........................................................................................................................11
FELIX GUATTARI...................................................................................................................................................12
WEEK III: PROCESS / SUSTAINABILITY.....................................................................................................15
WHITEHEAD........................................................................................................................................................ 15
Nature Lifeless...............................................................................................................................................16
PAUL CRUTZEN....................................................................................................................................................17
BRUNO LATOUR...................................................................................................................................................18
WEEK IV: POLITICAL ECOLOGY / GENERATIVITY..............................................................................21
HENK OOSTERLING...............................................................................................................................................21
SUMMARIZING LECTURE.........................................................................................................................................23
2
, Week I: Nature
Pierre Hadot
Hadot conceptualized nature more formally to an idealist view. This does not mean that the
ancient concepts of nature are not irrelevant, but simply different from the newer
interpretation of the concept. He was also a key researcher of Neoplatonism, and he has
developed spiritual exercises in ancient philosophy.
According to presocratics, and thus Heraclites, physis means the essence of being, as argued
by Hadot. It also meant process and growth. Thus, Hadot argues that Heraclitus probably
meant physis as a process. We now call it a natural process, like a seed growing and
flowering. Additionally, Hadot argued that philei does not really mean love, as argued before
him, but must have meant to incline/ to be inclined. The word kruptesthai used by Heraclites,
means not to be completely knowable, and to be unseen, thus veiling oneself.
This is all described in the Veil of Isis, where he starts with the famous saying of Heraclitus:
“Phusis kruptesthai philei”. This is usually translated into “nature loves to hide”, yet
Heraclitus would rather refer to Phusis as “change”, in an all-encompassing rather than a
particular way (we can point to things and call them nature) (Becoming over being). Phusis
can therefore also mean essence, as in the way something comes into the world. Phusis is
therefore also a process, as in the growing of a plant. Kruptestai might further be understood
as to veil oneself, or even to die. We can understand the saying in 5 further ways:
Five meanings to the words Physis, kruptesthai and philei
1. The essence of things does not let itself be known easily
2. The essence of things must be kept hidden by those who know its essence
3. The processes of coming into existence and growth tend to be difficult to know
4. That which makes things be born, tends to make them disappear
5. The appearance of things tends to disappear/ what has been born will also die
The vagueness of the saying is deliberate. It might be understood as a contemplative exercise,
which was meant to form yourself into a better person. Philosophy was understood not
necessarily as an academic, rather as a practical discipline (know-how, instead of know-
what).
In Homer’s odyssey, physis refers to a very specific local process of birth, growth, and death,
rather than a general process.
Later in Hippocrates it was understood as the local essence of a thing (the body’s essence),
and only after in Plato was it understood as the absolute and total essence of a thing (that
which makes something grow), behind the material object which moves it to be born, to grow,
and to die. Note that this is still different to our conception, because to us nature is also a
inorganic process, like how mountains grow.
Then in Aristotle, Nature is again understood in terms of local processes (specifically causes,
where physis is a thing’s final cause). Phusis is then a principle of inner motion inside a thing.
This must then be starkly contrasted with art. Where Plato closes the access of nature for
scientific research, Aristotle opens it. In late antiquity (Pliny the Elder), nature becomes a
thing, a mother, as the invisible force that realizes life.
In late antiquity, with Pliny the elder, Nature becomes the force behind life itself. He would
also be the first to call nature a mother, to be taken up later as the mother.
3
FW-FMC1007
2021-2022
Jurian Traas
,Contents
WEEK I: NATURE.................................................................................................................................................3
PIERRE HADOT.......................................................................................................................................................3
The Veil of Isis..................................................................................................................................................4
HANNAH ARENDT...................................................................................................................................................5
The Human Condition......................................................................................................................................8
WEEK II: ECOLOGY............................................................................................................................................9
GREGORY BATESON................................................................................................................................................9
Steps to an Ecology of Mind..........................................................................................................................11
FELIX GUATTARI...................................................................................................................................................12
WEEK III: PROCESS / SUSTAINABILITY.....................................................................................................15
WHITEHEAD........................................................................................................................................................ 15
Nature Lifeless...............................................................................................................................................16
PAUL CRUTZEN....................................................................................................................................................17
BRUNO LATOUR...................................................................................................................................................18
WEEK IV: POLITICAL ECOLOGY / GENERATIVITY..............................................................................21
HENK OOSTERLING...............................................................................................................................................21
SUMMARIZING LECTURE.........................................................................................................................................23
2
, Week I: Nature
Pierre Hadot
Hadot conceptualized nature more formally to an idealist view. This does not mean that the
ancient concepts of nature are not irrelevant, but simply different from the newer
interpretation of the concept. He was also a key researcher of Neoplatonism, and he has
developed spiritual exercises in ancient philosophy.
According to presocratics, and thus Heraclites, physis means the essence of being, as argued
by Hadot. It also meant process and growth. Thus, Hadot argues that Heraclitus probably
meant physis as a process. We now call it a natural process, like a seed growing and
flowering. Additionally, Hadot argued that philei does not really mean love, as argued before
him, but must have meant to incline/ to be inclined. The word kruptesthai used by Heraclites,
means not to be completely knowable, and to be unseen, thus veiling oneself.
This is all described in the Veil of Isis, where he starts with the famous saying of Heraclitus:
“Phusis kruptesthai philei”. This is usually translated into “nature loves to hide”, yet
Heraclitus would rather refer to Phusis as “change”, in an all-encompassing rather than a
particular way (we can point to things and call them nature) (Becoming over being). Phusis
can therefore also mean essence, as in the way something comes into the world. Phusis is
therefore also a process, as in the growing of a plant. Kruptestai might further be understood
as to veil oneself, or even to die. We can understand the saying in 5 further ways:
Five meanings to the words Physis, kruptesthai and philei
1. The essence of things does not let itself be known easily
2. The essence of things must be kept hidden by those who know its essence
3. The processes of coming into existence and growth tend to be difficult to know
4. That which makes things be born, tends to make them disappear
5. The appearance of things tends to disappear/ what has been born will also die
The vagueness of the saying is deliberate. It might be understood as a contemplative exercise,
which was meant to form yourself into a better person. Philosophy was understood not
necessarily as an academic, rather as a practical discipline (know-how, instead of know-
what).
In Homer’s odyssey, physis refers to a very specific local process of birth, growth, and death,
rather than a general process.
Later in Hippocrates it was understood as the local essence of a thing (the body’s essence),
and only after in Plato was it understood as the absolute and total essence of a thing (that
which makes something grow), behind the material object which moves it to be born, to grow,
and to die. Note that this is still different to our conception, because to us nature is also a
inorganic process, like how mountains grow.
Then in Aristotle, Nature is again understood in terms of local processes (specifically causes,
where physis is a thing’s final cause). Phusis is then a principle of inner motion inside a thing.
This must then be starkly contrasted with art. Where Plato closes the access of nature for
scientific research, Aristotle opens it. In late antiquity (Pliny the Elder), nature becomes a
thing, a mother, as the invisible force that realizes life.
In late antiquity, with Pliny the elder, Nature becomes the force behind life itself. He would
also be the first to call nature a mother, to be taken up later as the mother.
3
