DOMINATION OF NATURE: HOBBESIAN VAINGLORY AND MILITARY HERRSCHAFT

Western social and political thought reveals two principle kinds of domination over nature. The first resembles the passionate drive of Hobbesian vainglory, the second the calculated procedures of Weberian Herrschaft. Both forms of Western domination need to be understood before the roots of the current ecological crisis can be exposed. This article first traces the historical roots of each kind of domination. Next it examines two brief cases to illustrate the distinction between the two and the utility of the conceptual framework. Teddy Roosevelt exemplifies how vainglory can limit the environmental benefits of stewardship. World military organizations exemplify how herrschaft's rationalized behavior produces irrational results — reducing environmental security in the name of security. The future success of the environmental movement will rest on its ability to devise different solutions to these different kinds of human domination.