Prospettive ecologiche nell'opera di Merleau-Ponty

Modern perspectives on nature are marked by a forceful division between the human subject and natural objects. On this Cartesian dichotomy, Positivism built trust in the human capability to conquer nature. Nowadays, this trust has collided with the paradoxical consequences of over-development: what was supposed to protect us from the risks of an impetuous nature has instead exposed the world to even greater dangers. The current environmental crisis requires a new reflection on the human relationship with Earth, one that can find a valuable support in phenomenological thinking. My aim in this paper is to outline some aspects of Merleau-Ponty’s heritage in ecological thinking, especially in deep ecology, and to show that Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy of nature and his notion of flesh can offer an important support, both methodological and ontological, to ethical studies on the environment.