The Domination of Nature

Alice Kidd is an editor with The New Catalyst editorial collective in
Lillooet, B.C.

The idea of control over the natural world has held sway in Western
societies for centuries. Only recently does it appear to have
overstepped its usefulness. Ecofeminists, physicists, and other critics
have written a great deal about the negative effects of this ideology,
but nowhere have I seen as thorough or as insightful an analysis of its
antecedents, development, substance, and influence as in The Domination
of Nature.

Christian and nonbeliever, capitalist and socialist—all have seen the
natural world not only as the primary source for the satisfaction of
human need but also as a force that needed to be subdued, disciplined.
With the rise of science in the 17th century, the ideology changed and
was expanded to include total control of both the environment and human
nature. Science and technology so improved the efficiency of “knowing
the natural world” that over time they became the only tools employed
in this endeavor.

One consequence of the rise of science was the separation of valuing
from methodology in the control of nature. Giving up the idea of fixed
values (typically, church values) without recognizing the need for
valuing in life can be disastrous. Science as a method has many
redeeming features; separated from the “domination of nature,” it
can as easily be used in the “liberation of nature.” But any
ideology that loses adherents through overstepping its limits and
abusing its privilege is frequently abandoned in its entirety.

William Leiss has crafted a wonderful analysis of the idea and its
influence. He has also pointed out most of the problems that have
resulted from using this perspective beyond limits. I particularly like
that his conclusions appear to be pragmatic; that is, they show where
the old theory has gone wrong in such a way that we might use some of
the insights to act now. Reprinted and updated with a new preface, The
Domination of Nature remains an important work. It suggests that our
task now is not mastery of nature, but mastery of our relations with
nature.