The Metaphysical Foundations of Ecofeminism

Abstract

The need for fundamental axioms that undergird human knowledge and practices is quite important. This becomes all the more imperative when it concerns the justification for an ideology and movement that explore the link or intersection between gender and environmentalism: two concepts that have been brought to the front burner in the most recent times. The present investigation on the metaphysical foundations of ecofeminism sets out to examine the ontological status and foundations of ecofeminism. Perceived through the lens of the two different and opposing traditional metaphysical theories of realism and idealism, ecofeminism, it is discovered, is a substantial reality as well as a social-cultural construct undergirded by polarizing or divisive metaphysics or ontology and perfected by logic of domination which justifies the unjustifiable premises that serve to engineer ecofeminism. As a panacea to the above predicament, the present paper calls for a more integrative and complementary metaphysics that harps on interconnectedness, mutual dependence of realities and inclusiveness rather than exclusiveness and polarization. This can serve to create the framework for harmonious and humane inter-relationship not only among human beings but also between humans and non-human entities, and thus ground affirmative ecofeminism. The approach for this study is analytic.