Third up we will take a philosophical look at (III) The Empress.
Following on from (I) The Magician and (II) High Priestess it is now time to nurture our newly created and open world.
I've been looking forward to this one as The Empress is represented by one of my favourite (modern) philosophers (but I won't give the game away just yet).
III The Empress
Chosen card: The Timeless Tarot (2016) self-published by Tara Winstanley.
Archetype: The Empress "mother who nurtures and protects all of her creation, including humankind." (Kenner, 2009)
Keywords: NURTURING...
Yes, just the one keyword. Everything that The Empress stands for can be subsumed under the umbrella of nurturing.
Nurturing: Motherhood necessarily involves nurturing but nurturing, in itself, should not be conflated with the term 'mother' or as a specifically female attribute (remember the lessons of The High Priestess).
Rather,
Nurture refers to all the experiences and environmental variables that have an impact on flourishing, and
Nurturing is the simple act (virtue) of caring for all others and limiting the effect of negative experiences and detrimental environmental effects that might otherwise impact on their ability to flourish. That said, nurturing is not controlling; flourishing does not happen when others are confined or smothered.
The Empress 'cares' for (nurtures) everything.
Like The High Priestess, The Empress is free from bias, false dichotomies, and hierarchies. However, The Empress puts this into play by acting from kindness; simply caring/nurturing for all because it is the right thing to do.
For ALL: Kenner (above) notes the The Empress's nurturing "includes humankind". It is important to note this is not a limitation to just humankind. For ALL refers to everything that can be nurtured; humans, animals, the environment, the planet. The nurturing of the Empress is pure and abstract. It is (as noted in the previous paragraph, but worth repeating):
caring/nurturing for all because it is the right thing to do.
The number 3: In 3 we find strength and unity. Moving from the false dichotomy of 2's (the assumption that the logic of something either being 'an example of X' or 'not an example of X' is absolute) to the middle path (as shown in The High Priestess) and bringing them together in unity; a unity that can be nurtured, a unity that can flourish.
Musing: I am fascinated by this card because my own PhD thesis was on the concept of flourishing. More specifically finding morality, the right way to act, by reference to flourishing. I argued that not only is promoting flourishing (nurturing) good for others it is also a matter of self-interest. Further, as I noted at the outset, The Empress is represented by a philosopher I hold in very high regard.
III Karen Warren (1947-2020)
Human thinking, especially with regard to how we act towards others, has historically been very atomistic. Concern was given to 'those like me' and all 'others' were excluded. Slowly the moral community has expanded to include more and more minority/excluded groups and now, in principle at least, includes all humans. The 'minority' now offers a voice on behalf of animals and the environment, for consideration.
Warren (1990) argues that ecofeminism* "involves a shift from conception of ethics as primarily a matter of rights, rules or principles predetermined and applied in specific cases to entities viewed as competitors in the contest of moral standing [to an ethic that] makes a central place for values of care, love, friendship, trust and appropriate reciprocity-values that presuppose that our relationship to others are central to our understanding of who we are".
One swim with dolphins reinforced Warren's view of the need for an ethic of care;
one simply cannot fit the story about selves and others (humans and nonhumans) into the shoe of rights, or duty, or justice, or utility without loss of crucial moral value. To tell the proper moral story of the matter, attention to and cultivation of human capacities to care and to engage in care practices is needed.
The provision of that missing moral piece is what Warren terms care-sensitive ethics.
The bottom line of any ethic is it has to be based in care, not in rights, not in rules, not in self-interest, not in God’s will, but in care (Warren, 2019 Interview)
Atomistic/extensionist thinking is based in sameness; we care for those most like us. Men excluded women based on claims they were different. The argument was presented that other men were included due to being the same (rational/logical beings) but women were excluded due to being different (emotional beings) and thus could also be treated differently (afforded less rights, denied education etc.). This sexist/patriarchal worldview is still dominant in language, with women often being associated with naturism - and naturism being something that is dominated.
Women are often described in animal terms (e.g. as cows, foxes, chicks, serpents, bitches, beavers, old bats, pussycats, cats, birdbrains, hare-brains), sexual terms (e.g. as lays, fucks, screws, cunts) and plaything terms (e.g. as babes, dolls, girls, pets) terms which contribute to viewing women as inferior, not fully rational, and child-like. Just as women are naturalized in the dominant discourse, so, too, is nature feminized. 'Mother Nature' is raped, mastered, conquered, mined; her secrets are 'penetrated" and her 'womb' is to be put into service of the 'man of science.' Virgin timber is felled, cut down; fertile soil is tilled and land that lies fallow is 'barren,' useless. Language fuses women's and animal's or nature's inferior status in a patriarchal culture. We exploit nature and animals by associating them with women's lesser status, and, conversely, dominate women by associating women with nature's and animals' inferior status. As Carol Adams argues so persuasively in The Sexual Politics of Meat, language which feminizes nature and naturalizes women describes, reflects, and perpetuates oppression by failing to see the extent to which the twin dominations of women and nature, especially of animals, are, in fact, culturally analogous and not simply metaphorically analogous. (Adams 1990: 61). (Warren 1990)
Warren argues that we need to move from these "arrogant perceptions" grounded in sameness to a "loving perception" that celebrates, presupposes and maintains difference. "A loving perception that celebrates difference is limited only by one's personal ability "to respond lovingly (or with appropriate care)" - whether it is to humans, non-humans, or elements of the non-human world.
On Relationships: It is often difficult to think in terms of a "loving perception" towards other humans, let alone non-humans or nature itself. Warren draws an analogy with climbing a mountain:
There are very different ways to climb a mountain and how one climbs it and how one narrates the experience of climbing it matter ethically. If one climbs with "arrogant perception," with an attitude of "conquer and control," one keeps intact the very sorts of thinking that characterize a logic of domination...
Warren's central point is that nature is not for us to control, dominate, or conquer. We are reliant on nature for our very survival and must move from arrogant perceptions (largely based on patriarchies) towards a loving perception based on our relationships with others. How different if the language used to describe one's relationship with a mountain spoke of:
a chance to know myself and the rock differently, to appreciate unforeseen miracles like the tiny flowers growing in the even tinier cracks in the rock's surface, and to come to know a sense of being in relationship with the natural environment. It felt as if the rock and I were silent conversational partners in a long-standing friendship. (Warren 1996)
In closing:
"Love is seen not as fusion and erasure of difference but as incompatible with them." "Unity in sameness" alone is an erasure of difference. - (Lugones 1987)
Are they like me? Can they think? Can they feel? Are they sentient? These questions become irrelevant when we let go of the demand for sameness. False hierarchies, built on degrees of sameness, dissolve when we instead focus on and celebrate difference. At this point an interest in others' flourishing, and the desire to nurture that flourishing, replaces arrogant perceptions and the selfish demands we make based on 'personal rights'.
Let's hope the day comes soon.
Our Philosophers' Journey so far: Cards I - III
(I) The Magician has the courage to doubt all that is doubtable then rebuilds a view of the world on solid foundations without bias or preconception.
(II) The High Priestess brings balance and openness to the world. She reinforces the need for freedom from artificial hierarchies and false dichotomies so that all should be empowered through knowledge.
Our new Archetype:
(III) The Nurturing Empress celebrates, presupposes and maintains difference, and acts to nurture and protect all of creation, human, non-human, and elements of the non-human world.
Thanks for reading,
Dr.T
Next up (IV) The Emperor takes control?
Notes:
Ecofeminism : Ecological Feminism is the name given to a variety of positions that have roots in different feminist practices and philosophies. These different perspectives reflect not only different feminist perspectives (e.g., liberal, traditional Marxist, radical, socialist, black, and Third World), they also reflect different understandings of the nature of, and solution to, pressing environmental problems.
References:
Kenner, Connie (2009), Tarot Archetypes of the Major Arcana, https://www.llewellyn.com/journal/article/1951
Hardwicke, Tery (2006), Virtue and Self-Interest
Warren, Karen J. (2000) Ecofeminist Philosophy A Western Perspective on What It Is and Why It Matters Rowman & Littlefield: Maryland
Warren, K. (1996) Ecological Feminist Philosophies, Indiana Univ. Pr., Bloomington 137 ISBN 0-253-21029-1 2 Essays from this book are available at http://lafavephilosophy.x10host.com/ecofeminism.html
Farber, Z. 2019, Kingfield Philosopher seeks Medical Aid in Dying, Southwest journal
Lugones, M. 1987, Playfulness, "World"-Travelling, and Loving Perception, Hypatia (Vol:2)
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