Wanqiao Li
BIS 300 E
Professor Colin Danby
November 26th, 2023
Essay 2 Resubmission
Interrogating the Human Ontology in the Current Anthropocene
“Human-centered” is never a negative adjective to me as it values humans until Anna Tsing’s elaboration of Anthropocene overturns my understanding of this word. She noted that the human-centered epoch contains “human disturbance outrank other geological forces,” (Tsing 19) leading me to inquire how humans’ behaviors of pursuing profits have impacted other species and the environment. Similar interrogation also occurs in Donna Haraway’s “Awash in Urine” that when people save their lives with biochemical products, have they ever considered the pain that animals experience when the core element is extracted from part of their physical properties? If simply answering the interrogation by accusing humans, it runs counter to Tsing and Haraway's points because humans are not born to destroy. It is their desire for profits, money, and power, overriding other species, that has resulted in the damages, in other words, capitalism, which I would explain as the ownership of resources and profits. In this essay, I will delve into Haraway and Tsing's arguments regarding the influence of capitalist activities on other species and our harmonious coexistence with them.
Both Haraway and Tsing demonstrate a feminist perspective to interrogate the current relationship between humans and other creatures and the planetary ecosystem. That is, the pathway of human technological, economic, and societal development is fueled by unequal dynamics between humans and other species as well as the planetary ecosystem. In other words, humans, given their intelligence in using technology and science, have determined an ontological hierarchy in nature. Such hierarchy is at the cost of sacrificing the welfare of other species. In the two hormonal promoter examples of DES and Premarin, Haraway criticizes the awkwardness beyond their effectiveness. The process of producing the DES and Premarin integrates “ecosystem-destroying, human and animal labor transforming, multispecies soul-mutilating, epidemic-friendly… feedlot cattle industry” (Haraway 109). The horse urine is the main source where premarin is extracted. To have quality horse urine, pregnant mares are confined to purposely designed stalls, where their basic physical needs are restrained. The purpose of such design lies in protecting human welfare when using Premarin so that users and buyers are assured the horses used in the manufacture of estrogen replacement medication receive excellent care and are under strict observation (113). And those mares that fail to become pregnant are sent to the slaughtering house. I would argue this incorporates the anthropocentrism that is against animal rights and welfare. To put it in another way, human well-being is superior to that of animals, and animal’s existence is to serve human needs. However, how can we, humans, prove such superiority? By using the disparities regarding intelligence, it is insufficient to prove the human hierarchy as it is impossible to ignore the truth of disabilities and psychiatric disorders. In this sense, the current relationship between humans and the planetary ecosystem ends up as a fallacy. which ignores the inherent value of animals and other creatures on earth.
This leads to another claim of Haraway that interests me, which is her manifesto from cyborg to companion species, similarly found in Tsing's discussion of the relationship between capitalists and the matsutake. That is, there is a two-way dependency between humans and animals and plants. The falsehood of Darwinism emphasizes the incapability of animals and plants when competing with humans in adapting to the environment and the progress of evolution. However, both Haraway and Tsing believe in the co-evolution relationship between humans and non-human species. Although the mushroom, as goods, brings economic gains, it is also covered up by humans’ relentless deprivation of biological and ecological existence. This might be nuance from Haraway's claim of the balanced reciprocity Haraway claims the balanced reciprocity between humans and specifics. According to Tsing, the "white gold" and the picking activity as the experiences of Indochinese immigrants in U.S. society" (Tsing 19). Except for the detrimental impacts that capitalism has created on ecological well-being, the truth of capitalization, commercialization, and globalization also reflect the ethical issues of violating human rights and welfare. Similar to the gold wash in the last century, raw material exploitation is associated with sweat factories. As Tsing stated, "[f]actory labor is an exemplar of coordinated progress time" (24). The Industrial Revolution proved to be a promising bubble that was followed by destroyed landscapes and lost livelihoods (18). In other words, the industrial transformation is a potential bubble ready to burst, full of promise and opportunity, but the truth hidden behind the bubbles is the destroyed livelihoods and degraded landscapes caused by capitalism. This highlights the need for a nuanced understanding of the consequences of industrial progress and serves as a poignant reminder of the complexities involved. It emphasizes how crucial it is to understand that, despite their potential, changes can also result in serious problems like the destruction of the environment and the loss of livelihoods, which call for our careful thought and attention.
Furthermore, the two authors differ in relation to their writing styles. Tsing's article tends to use an academic style to demonstrate the correlation between different objects mentioned. On the contrary, Haraway integrates multiple personal narrations and reflections to increase the depth of her arguments. This nuance shows different effectiveness in researching the ethics of environmental and ecosystem issues. It also inspires the readers of the compatibility of diverse research methods.
Works Cited
Tsing, Anna Lowenhaupt. “The Mushroom at the End of the World.”
Haraway, Donna. "Awash in Urine DES and Premarin in Multispecies Response-ability."
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