DOMINATION OF NATURE - HOBBESIAN VAINGLORY AND MILITARY HERRSCHAFT

Western social and political thought reveals two principle kinds of do mination over nature. The first resembles the passionate drive of Hobb esian vainglory, the second the calculated procedures of Weberian herr schaft. Both forms of Western domination need to be understood before the roots of the current ecological crisis can be exposed. This articl e first traces the historical roots of each kind of domination. Next i t examines two brief cases to illustrate the distinction between the t wo and the utility of the conceptual framework. Teddy Roosevelt exempl ifies how vainglory can limit the environmental benefits of stewardshi p. World military organizations exemplify how herrschaft's rationalize d behavior produces irrational results - reducing environmental securi ty in the name of security. The future success of the environmental mo vement will rest on its ability to devise different solutions to these different kinds of human domination.