In this important and original interdisciplinary work, well-known
environmental philosopher Eric Katz explores technology's role in
dominating both nature and humanity. He argues that technology
dominates, and hence destroys, the natural world; it dominates, and
hence destroys, critical aspects of human life and society.
Technology causes an estrangement from nature, and thus a loss of
meaning in human life. As a result, humans lose the power to make
moral and social choices; they lose the power to control their
lives. Katz's argument innovatively connects two distinct areas of
thought: the fundamental goal of the Holocaust, including Nazi
environmental policy, to heal the degenerate elements of society;
and the plan to heal degraded natural systems that informs the
contemporary environmental policy of 'ecological restoration'. In
both arenas of 'healing', Katz argues that technological forces
drive action, while domination emerges as the prevailing ideology.
Katz's work is a plea for the development of a technology that does
not dominate and destroy but instead promotes autonomy and freedom.
Anne Frank, a victim of Nazi ideology and action, saw the titular
tree behind her secret annex as a symbol of freedom and moral
goodness. In Katz's argument, the tree represents a free and
autonomous nature, resistant to human control and domination. Anne
Frank's Tree is rooted in an empirical approach to philosophy,
seating complex ethical ideas in an accessible and powerful
narrative of historical fact and deeply personal lived experience.
The book is essentially a meditation on the opposing themes of
domination and autonomy as they relate to the uses of technology in
environmental policy and in the genocidal policies of the
Holocaust. Rather than an abstract, or theoretical, examination of
the concepts of 'domination' and 'autonomy,' the book undertakes a
robust pragmatic investigation into the ways in which these themes
'cash-out' in specific real-life or historical situations. It is a
work in 'empirical' or 'historical' philosophy, for the meaning of
the philosophical ideas and the arguments used to justify them flow
out of a detailed understanding of historical and practical reality
as well as personal lived experience. The overall argument of the
book is this: There is a connection between the destruction of
nature and the destruction of specific human cultures, although
this connection is not often perceived or understood. The analysis
of environmental problems dealing with the degradation of natural
systems is generally seen as distinct from the analysis of human
historical problems such as war, imperialism, and genocide. But on
the level of practical or physical reality, it can be seen that
science and technology plays a significant and crucial role in this
connection; moreover, on the conceptual level, the ideology of
domination and control is the connecting theme. By the examination
of several case studies or historical examples, we can see the
pervasive power of the idea of domination expressed through the
development and use of science and technology. Technology
dominates, and hence destroys the natural world; it dominates, and
hence destroys, critical aspects of human life and society. In this
realm of technological domination, humans lose the power to make
moral and social choices; they lose the power to control their
lives. To avoid or overcome this evil of domination, we must turn
to the ideas of autonomy and freedom as our primary goals of the
development and use of technology. Anne Frank's tree can serve as a
symbol of the resistance to domination and oppression and the need
for the preservation of freedom and autonomy both in human society
and in the natural world.
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