The Birth of Ecotragedy

Abstract

The Birth of Ecotragedy is a paper that revolves around the dialectic between individuality and a holistic self that I call the "one"-self. I believe that one of the fundamental reasons for ecological tragedy (climate change) is due to the predominating worldview that human's are separated and distinct from the natural world. By leaning on the ecosophists Arne Naess, Murray Bookchin, Joanna Macy, John Clark, and Lynn T. White, I explore how we have developed this societal preference. In the conclusion of my paper, I incorporate Nietzsche's comments from The Birth of Tragedy. Nietzsche's work highlights how Ancient Greece dealt with the dual impulses of individuality and collective consciousness through a reverence for both Apollo and Dionysus. In Nietzsche's conclusion he cites how we must try to revive our respect for both of these forces through, what he called, the Naive Artist. In order to rebalance our relationship with the environment, we must reorient our worldview to incorporate the perspective of the "one"-self with the predominate worldview of individuality. This could be made possible by reviving the Naive Artist who's work cultivates an internalization of these twin perspectives.