further efforts to clarify industrial ecologys hidden philosophy of nature - isenmann文档.pdfVIP

F O R U M Further Efforts to Clarify Industrial Ecology’s Hidden Philosophy of Nature Ralf Isenmann Keywords biological analogy Summary biomimicry As an emerging discipline, industrial ecology represents a epistemology promising interdisciplinary field that studies industrial systems Kant and their fundamental linkage with nature. At the root of its natural ecosystem metaphor scientific profile lies a refreshingly different perspective on na- philosophical anthropology ture as a model in comparison with other disciplines’ orthodox understanding nature in terms of a “sack of resources,” the “biophysical limit,” “something outside,” “surrounding,” or just “environment.” In contrast to these phrases, industrial ecol- ogy’s perspective indicates an important change in the inter- pretation of nature, from the interest in intervening in or pre- serving nature toward an orientation by nature, from the comprehension of nature as an object toward understanding nature as a model, and from exploiting natural resources to- ward learning from nature as, in part, an ideal. This character-