Elemental philosophy: earth, air, fire, and water as environmental ideas

459 Pages·2010·2.65 MB·English

by  Macauley, David

Elemental Philosophy
SUNY series in Environmental Philosophy and Ethics
—————
J. Baird Callicott and John van Buren, editors
Elemental Philosophy
Earth, Air, Fire, and Water
as Environmental Ideas
—— David Macauley ——
Front cover photo credit: Banyan tree, Goa Gajah (Elephant Cave Temple), Ubud, Bali,
Indonesia. Photo by David Macauley, 2009.
Front flap/Back cover art credit: “The Wheel of the Four Elements,” by Shaila George, 2010.
Reprinted by permission of the artist.
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2010 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever
without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic,
electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise
without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Production by Eileen Meehan
Marketing by Michael Campochiaro
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Macauley, David.
Elemental philosophy : earth, air, fi re, and water as elemental ideas / David Macauley.
p. cm. — (Suny series in environmental philosophy and ethics)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4384-3245-8 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Four elements (Philosophy) I. Title.
BD581.M25 2010
113—dc22 2010004835
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Dedicated to my parents:
Howard Kane Macauley
and the late Marion Ernest Macauley

Contents
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xv
Introduction 1
Four-Thought 1
Sheltering the Elements 3
Plan of the Work 6
Part I: Elemental Encounters and Ideas 11
Chapter 1. Philosophy’s Forgotten Four 13
Earth 14
Air 25
Fire 36
Water 43
Interstice: Stone 51
Chapter 2. The Topology of the Elemental Environment 59
Elementary Letters 60
Elemental Places 63
Elements as Archetypes 66
Elemental Opposition 67
Elemental Substances 69
Chemical Elements 72
Cultural Comparisons 74
The Frame of the Four 81
Social Construction of the Elements 84
Interstice: Wood 93
viii | Contents
Part II: Elemental Theories 101
Chapter 3. The Flowering of Ecological Roots: Empedocles’
Elemental Thought 103
Four-Play 103
The Problem of the Poems 104
Square Roots and Radical Rhizomes 106
Empedocles’ Elemental Cosmology 110
Ecological and Political Equality 113
Organic Unity 115
Environmental Action 117
Anticipation of Evolution 119
Animal Empathy 120
Environmental Roots 122
Ecological Ethos 122
Crafting Nature 124
Purity and Pollution 126
The Rhizomes of Deleuze and Guattari 131
Interstice: Ice and Snow 137
Chapter 4. Plato’s Chora-graphy of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water 143
The ABC of Everything 143
A Probable Physics 144
Derivation of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water 145
The Corpus of an Ecological Cosmos 147
Second Beginnings and Constrained Construction 148
Removing the Spell of the Elements 150
Elemental Recycling 153
Forms of the Four? 155
Elements Emplaced: Chora-graphy in the Matrix 156
Construction and Structure of the Primary Bodies 160
War and Play of the Elements 163
Dispatching the Stoicheia: Elemental S/endings 165
Husserl and the Mathematization of Nature 168
Postscript to Plato: Whitehead’s Philosophical Footnotes 170
Interstice: Cloud 173
Chapter 5. The Place of the Elements and the Elements of Place:
Aristotle’s Natural Household 179
Four Accounts of Five Elements 179
A Dictionary of Elemental Defi nitions 182