Identity. Beyond Places, beyond Identities, for a Cultural Redefinition of the Relationship between Man and Nature

Abstract

The current moment in human history is unprecedented, unique, probably unrepeatable. Over the past centuries and millennia, little or not at all, have been heard the words that told of the world flow, of its incessant transformation. Since ancient times, Heraclitus, Lao-Tze, etc. explained this truth: everything flows and changes. During its course, Western thought has fixed this flow, trying to create and apply replicable and re-applicable models. The most efficient and effective model was that of nature or rather of the man-nature relationship. The climate crisis that the Earth is experiencing requires a profound rethinking of this concept, as of many others; but it is precisely from it, as a structural basis, that the re-design of human dwelling becomes urgent (Heidegger in Saggi e discorsi, Mursia, Milan, 2015). All this should be based on a philosophical and geographical re-founding of the relationship between man and the world, with new terms, concepts and words that can understand the complexity of the world situation. An essential basis for such a reflection will be the concept of “hyperobject” produced by Timothy (Morton in Hyperobjects: philosophy and ecology after the end of the world, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, Morton, 2013).