Emersonian Virtues of the Anthropocene: Faith, Hope, and Love

The natural sciences and religion are two of the primary modern social practices that, for better and worse, shape our relationship to nature. Ralph Waldo Emerson helps us to think about their relation to one another and the virtues needed for the perfection of each. His insights about virtue and th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Zygon
Main Author: Dumler-Winckler, Emily (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Wiley-Blackwell [2018]
In: Zygon
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Emerson, Ralph Waldo 1803-1882 / Natural sciences / Moral conditions / Geology, Stratigraphic
RelBib Classification:AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism
NCB Personal ethics
NCJ Ethics of science
Further subjects:B Nature
B Ethics
B Spirituality
B Grace
B theology and science
B Ralph Waldo Emerson
B Religion
B theology of nature
B Virtue
B Faith
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
Volltext (doi)
Description
Summary:The natural sciences and religion are two of the primary modern social practices that, for better and worse, shape our relationship to nature. Ralph Waldo Emerson helps us to think about their relation to one another and the virtues needed for the perfection of each. His insights about virtue and the “religious sentiment” shed light on how we moderns might make a home of a world indelibly marked by science, technology, and anthropogenic change. In addition to the quintessentially Emersonian virtue of self-trust, the virtues of faith, hope, and love are vital for this home-making endeavor. Emerson, thus, prefigures what prominent environmental ethicists have described as a “turn to virtue in climate ethics,” as well as what some see as a return to religious communities, values, and ideals, as the way forward. By guiding readers through Emerson's early work Nature and his late essay “Worship,” this article provides an account of these three traditionally theological Emersonian virtues of the Anthropocene.
ISSN:1467-9744
Contains:Enthalten in: Zygon
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/zygo.12469