Actors or Spectators? Vulnerability and Critical Environmental Law

• Main Author: Andreas Philippopoulos‐Mihalopoulos
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oñati International Institute for the Sociology of Law 2013-12-01
• Series: Oñati Socio-Legal Series
• Subjects: critical environmental law; critique; Deleuze; immanence; Luhmann; middle; spectatorship; vulnerability; open ecology. Ley ambiental crítica; critica; inmanencia; intermedio; espectador; vulnerabilidad; ecología abierta
• Online Access: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2247835

<p>The question of whether we as humans should remain spectators of the great theatre of ecological disaster or become actors is a false dichotomy. In this chapter, I argue that both are needed, since the critical distance of spectatorship does not annul the need for immersion in the ecological continuum. A tool in the realisation of this is the concept of vulnerability, which is here conceptualised as a space of &lsquo;the middle&rsquo; (as opposed, emphatically, to &lsquo;the centre&rsquo;) and offers an opportunity to think away from the sterile debate on eco/anthropocentricity and from such limiting hierarchies as animal/human, human/environmental, natural/artificial. This new, vulnerable position of the middle allows the reconfiguration of ecological processes, and more specifically, the position of environmental law in relation to them. Environmental law now finds itself amidst a new, moving, &lsquo;open ecology&rsquo; of social, biological and ecological processes. This is a new, radical conceptualisation of what I have called &lsquo;critical environmental law&rsquo;, based upon an epistemology of observation and an ontology of being part of this open ecology. Environmental law, in this light, is simultaneously reformulated as being an invitation to disciplinary and ontological openness and yet a call to remain immanent within existing legal structures. This finds expression in four critical environmental positions that set the stage for the further elaboration of a critical environmental law.</p> <hr /><p>La cuesti&oacute;n de si nosotros, como seres humanos, debemos seguir siendo espectadores del gran teatro de la cat&aacute;strofe ecol&oacute;gica o convertirnos en actores es una dicotom&iacute;a falsa. En este art&iacute;culo se sostiene que ambos son necesarios, ya que la distancia cr&iacute;tica del espectador no anula la necesidad de una inmersi&oacute;n en el continuum ecol&oacute;gico. Una herramienta para la realizaci&oacute;n de esto es el concepto de vulnerabilidad, que aqu&iacute; se concibe como un espacio 'intermedio' (en oposici&oacute;n, con &eacute;nfasis, a 'el centro') y ofrece una oportunidad para pensar fuera del debate est&eacute;ril sobre eco/antropocentrismo y de tan restrictivas jerarqu&iacute;as como animal/humano, humano/medio ambiente, natural/artificial. Esta posici&oacute;n intermedia, nueva y vulnerable, permite la reconfiguraci&oacute;n de los procesos ecol&oacute;gicos, y, m&aacute;s concretamente, la posici&oacute;n de la legislaci&oacute;n ambiental en relaci&oacute;n con ellos. El derecho ambiental se encuentra ahora en medio de una nueva mudanza, 'ecolog&iacute;a abierta' de los procesos sociales, biol&oacute;gicos y ecol&oacute;gicos. Esta es una nueva conceptualizaci&oacute;n radical de lo que el autor ha denominado 'Derecho medioambiental cr&iacute;tico', basada en una epistemolog&iacute;a de la observaci&oacute;n y en una ontolog&iacute;a de ser parte de esta ecolog&iacute;a abierta. El derecho ambiental, de esta manera, se reformula como una invitaci&oacute;n a la apertura disciplinaria y ontol&oacute;gica y, al mismo tiempo, como una llamada a permanecer inmanente dentro de las estructuras legales existentes. Esto se expresa en cuatro posiciones ambientales cr&iacute;ticas que sentaron las bases para la posterior elaboraci&oacute;n de una ley ambiental cr&iacute;tica.