Reflections on Christianity and the Ecological Crisis

Abstract

One of the ways in which human beings have separated themselves from nature is that they have lost many of their instincts. Those which remain (such as hunger, sexuality, and fear) have been weakened, or else reason is able to control them, or largely to suppress them, even to the point of self-destruction. Reason indeed actually takes the place of instincts, at least in the sense that it guides human beings instead of them. But if this is so, it is an inadequate replacement. Instinct leads in only one direction, and to some extent indicates to animals what they should do in the future (for example, it tells them how to prepare for winter). But reason leads in several directions, and is not a reliable guide to the future. There are few subjects about which reason will not create several theories, and so far as the future is concerned, too, it does not recommend just one way forward.