Abstract
Since the beginning of the awareness of the environmental crisis, studies have tried to trace back the historical and ideological roots of industrial evolution. Many of these studies indicated elements of the Judeo-Christian tradition as at least co-responsible. Some 40 years later, this chapter overviews some strands of the discussions these studies have provoked, especially concerning the alleged anthropocentrism of Judaism and Christianity and their disenchanting attitude toward nature. These traditional ideas are confronted with insights from Marcel Gauchet’s philosophy of religion, with inputs from other religions, and with empirical data from recent surveys.
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In the English version of Gauchet’s book, The Disenchantment of the World, “sortie” is translated as “departure”; this translation however does not fully render the ambiguity of the original French “sortie” (Cloots 2008, p.7).
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Acknowledgements
The author thanks professors Yanming An (Clemson University), Hans Ausloos (Université Catholique de Louvain), and Bénédicte Lemmelijn (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) for their willingness to provide useful information for this study.
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Meganck, M. (2012). Lynn White Revisited: Religious and Cultural Backgrounds for Technological Development. In: Christensen, S., Mitcham, C., Li, B., An, Y. (eds) Engineering, Development and Philosophy. Philosophy of Engineering and Technology, vol 11. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5282-5_23
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