Actors or Spectators? Vulnerability and Critical Environmental Law

Authors

  • Andreas Philippopoulos‐Mihalopoulos University of Westminster

Keywords:

critical environmental law, critique, Deleuze, immanence, Luhmann, middle, spectatorship, vulnerability, open ecology. Ley ambiental crítica, critica, inmanencia, intermedio, espectador, vulnerabilidad, ecología abierta

Abstract

The question of whether we as humans should remain spectators of the great theatre of ecological disaster or become actors is a false dichotomy. In this chapter, I argue that both are needed, since the critical distance of spectatorship does not annul the need for immersion in the ecological continuum. A tool in the realisation of this is the concept of vulnerability, which is here conceptualised as a space of ‘the middle’ (as opposed, emphatically, to ‘the centre’) and offers an opportunity to think away from the sterile debate on eco/anthropocentricity and from such limiting hierarchies as animal/human, human/environmental, natural/artificial. This new, vulnerable position of the middle allows the reconfiguration of ecological processes, and more specifically, the position of environmental law in relation to them. Environmental law now finds itself amidst a new, moving, ‘open ecology’ of social, biological and ecological processes. This is a new, radical conceptualisation of what I have called ‘critical environmental law’, based upon an epistemology of observation and an ontology of being part of this open ecology. Environmental law, in this light, is simultaneously reformulated as being an invitation to disciplinary and ontological openness and yet a call to remain immanent within existing legal structures. This finds expression in four critical environmental positions that set the stage for the further elaboration of a critical environmental law.

La cuestión de si nosotros, como seres humanos, debemos seguir siendo espectadores del gran teatro de la catástrofe ecológica o convertirnos en actores es una dicotomía falsa. En este artículo se sostiene que ambos son necesarios, ya que la distancia crítica del espectador no anula la necesidad de una inmersión en el continuum ecológico. Una herramienta para la realización de esto es el concepto de vulnerabilidad, que aquí se concibe como un espacio 'intermedio' (en oposición, con énfasis, a 'el centro') y ofrece una oportunidad para pensar fuera del debate estéril sobre eco/antropocentrismo y de tan restrictivas jerarquías como animal/humano, humano/medio ambiente, natural/artificial. Esta posición intermedia, nueva y vulnerable, permite la reconfiguración de los procesos ecológicos, y, más concretamente, la posición de la legislación ambiental en relación con ellos. El derecho ambiental se encuentra ahora en medio de una nueva mudanza, 'ecología abierta' de los procesos sociales, biológicos y ecológicos. Esta es una nueva conceptualización radical de lo que el autor ha denominado 'Derecho medioambiental crítico', basada en una epistemología de la observación y en una ontología de ser parte de esta ecología abierta. El derecho ambiental, de esta manera, se reformula como una invitación a la apertura disciplinaria y ontológica y, al mismo tiempo, como una llamada a permanecer inmanente dentro de las estructuras legales existentes. Esto se expresa en cuatro posiciones ambientales críticas que sentaron las bases para la posterior elaboración de una ley ambiental crítica.

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Author Biography

Andreas Philippopoulos‐Mihalopoulos, University of Westminster

Andreas Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos, LLB, LLM, PhD, has read Law in Thessaloniki, Greece, as well as in other European cities. He completed his LLM at King's College, London, and his PhD at Birkbeck College, London. He is Professor of Law & Theory and Director of the Westminster International Law & Theory Centre at the University of Westminster, London, an international research centre in the heart of London with a vibrant series of events, publications, internships and research clusters. Andreas's research interests include critical legal theory, autopoiesis, philosophy, psychoanalysis, architecture, geography, art, phenomenology, and their critical instances of confluence. He researches in the areas of environmental law, EU law, human rights and critical jurisprudence. Andreas has been awarded the Oxford University Press National Law Teacher of the Year Award 2011. He has since been invited to join the Judging Panel of the Award, which he gratefully accepted.

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Published

30-01-2013

How to Cite

Philippopoulos‐Mihalopoulos, A. (2013) “Actors or Spectators? Vulnerability and Critical Environmental Law”, Oñati Socio-Legal Series, 3(5), pp. 854–876. Available at: https://opo.iisj.net/index.php/osls/article/view/256 (Accessed: 28 March 2024).