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mandates self-restrains before imposing bans on others. That is, if there is no
recognition of your own and the identities of others, then it will not be possible to
value differences. It is from this point of view that equality (not the identifi cation or
the equivalence) of dignity among diverse beings should be applied.
This hermeneutical contribution is not exclusive to FEP, but it has been
approached in various schools of environmental thought. For example, in the
systemic proposal of “deep ecology,” Arne Naess (
1995
) has essayed a synthesis
inter-relating modes of knowledge and ecological life. From another perspective,
the environmental philosopher Baird Callicott (
1994
) has analyzed critically the
reductionist and economic interpretation of
Genesis
, and has proposed a compara-
tive analysis of multiple ecological worldviews and ways of relating to nature to
overcome the economic model that imposes its presumed objectivity.
Confronted with the reifi cation of the biosphere as an
Earth to “fi ll and subdue”
we need to proceed with precision: recognize that equality does not imply being
identical because there are beings with different levels of biological organization
and diverse biotic processes. Thus, as co-inhabitants in the same
biospheric habitat,
we are equal but not identical. For this reason, hermeneutics is dialogic; “We defi ne
our identity always in dialogue with, sometimes in struggle against, the things our
signifi cant others want to see in us” (Gadamer
2000
, p. 53). The need for dialogue
is because equality is not assimilation or identifi cation with the other, but it is “mov-
ing” in the
logos
.
“Moving” towards new horizons of meaning begins with linguistic transloca-
tions: new views are adopted by adopting new words, forms of inhabitation, and
habits of others who share the same habitat. That experience leads to recognizing
ourselves as co-inhabitants and to recognize the other in the same condition or habi-
tat, but not as an identical inhabitant. This leads to understanding others as more
than objects of inquiry, and therefore avoids reifying them. Equal status, preserving
the dignity of each being, implies a privilege and a responsibility that grants rights
and obligations, and preserves identity by posing a “new citizenship” (Aguirre
2012
). It is based on a citizenship that is responsible with ecological justice, espe-
cially with “inter-specifi c justice” grounded on the principle of biospheric hospital-
ity for other living beings (Lecaros
2013
).
“Moving” toward inter-specifi c justice and biospheric hospitality is not simply
engaging in a conversation to understand the dialoging partner or to overcome dif-
ferences through agreements; but rather to follow the others in their projects. Not
only to allow their projects, but also to foster them. To put it in a few words with the
well known Heideggerian words: the other is not in an indifferent state of being
thrown around (“Geworfenheit”), merely being there, and no more. Instead, the
other is a
pro-ject
, living with a purpose that adds appreciation to the moral value
already present in itself in its own existence. In ecological terms this implies recog-
nizing any “other” as part of the processes and levels of biological organization in
which all living and non-living beings are embedded.
The co-inhabitant “other,” with equal rights to co-inhabit, although not identical
in habits, requires a recognition that shifts boundaries and horizons. For this reason,
we never should close the paths to what the “other” has to say. In this vein, Aldo
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