Kanttekeningen

Natuurvolkeren: een overjaars hersenspinsel: een antwoord op "Christendom en milieu"

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Abstract

Natural man as an old fantasy in the Western mind. An answer to ’Christianity and the environment’ - We fully agree with the idea of A.-M. De Bruycker (TSW, Nr. 2, 1992) when she states that Christianity influenced strongly the Western negative attitude toward nature. The environment has always been considered as an enemy that has to be dominated or even destroyed. In so called ’primitive’ societies nature has always been a kind of ally with whom people live in symbiosis. This short article is a critical answer to a few topics developed by De Bruycker. We do not agree with the use of an old and non-scientific terminology to describe non-Western societies. By using this very old fashioned and subjective vocabulary, the author shows her lack of knowledge in the field of anthropology. We do not agree either with the author’s conviction that non-Western societies live in a kind of cultural vacuum, nature being all predominant. Anthropologists stale that every culture has an impact on the ecological system. So called ’primitives’ also change their environment, even if it is on a small scale and in a fairly insignificant way in comparison with the West. The philosophy of non-Western societies can help the West to find a new dynamic in the relations between culture and ecology. But let us not repeat the mistakes of the past : ’primitive’ societies do not live like ’bons sauvages’ in a luxuriant natural environment !

How to Cite:

Wymeersch, P., (1993) “Natuurvolkeren: een overjaars hersenspinsel: een antwoord op "Christendom en milieu"”, Tijdschrift voor Sociale Wetenschappen 38(1), 76–83. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/tvsw.95131