Ecophilosophy in Modern East Asia: The Case of Hansalim in South Korea
Michael S. Pak
School of Humanities and Social Sciences, KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), Daejeon, Rep. of Korea (Korea, Republic of)
Jeehyun Kim
Graduate School of Science and Technology Policy, KAIST, Rep. of Korea (Korea, Republic of)
Abstract
This article is devoted to examining the relevance of ecophilosophy for sustainable development, especially in the modern East Asian context. It is framed as a response to environmental historian Mark Elvin’s claim that allegedly eco-friendly philosophical and spiritual traditions like Daoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism had no effect in preventing environmental degradation in the long history of preindustrial China, and also that given this historical precedent, ecophilosophy – or any type of ideology as such – is likely to have no relevance in the efforts toward sustainable development now under way worldwide. The article argues the necessity of examining Asian countries that are farther along in industrialization than China, and which have witnessed the emergence of powerful ecophilosophy-based movements as a reaction to industrialization and its unfortunate side-effects. In particular, the article focuses on the remarkable case of the Hansalim movement in South Korea, which has represented arguably the most comprehensive attempt yet at formulating an ecophilosophy based on the East Asian traditions which is relevant and practical for today’s world. While Hansalim’s achievements as the operator of the world’s largest community-based organic food cooperative have recently begun to gain recognition abroad, this article focuses on the ecophilosophy underlying the movement – for which food has been but a symbol – and analyzes it to be rich in implications, especially concerning the social pillar of sustainable development, localism, and the role of ecophilosophy.
Keywords:
ecophilosophy, East Asia, South Korea, Hansalim, organic food cooperative, the social pillar of sustainable development, localismReferences
CALLICOTT J. B., McRAE J., 2014, Environmental Philosophy in Asian Traditions of Thought, State University of New York Press, New York.
Google Scholar
CUMINGS B., 1997, Korea’s Place in the Sun: A Modern History, W. W. Norton & Company, New York.
Google Scholar
EDER N., 1996, Poisoned Prosperity: Development, Modernization, and the Environment in South Korea, M. E. Sharpe, New York.
Google Scholar
ELVIN M., 2004, The Retreat of the Elephants: An Environmental History of China, Yale University, New Haven.
Google Scholar
GUHA R., 2000, Environmentalism: A Global History, Longman, New York.
Google Scholar
HANSALIM, 1990a, Hansalim Manifesto, in: Hansalim, vol. 1, p. 6-43.
Google Scholar
HANSALIM, 1990b, From the Crisis of Civilization to the Order of Life: On the Ideological Background of the Hansalim Manifesto (a roundtable talk), in: Hansalim, vol. 1, p. 45-66.
Google Scholar
HANSALIM, 1990c, A New Understanding of Life and Cooperative Movement: On Solidarity of Organic Farming and Consumer’s Movement (a roundtable talk), in: Hansalim, vol. 1, p. 107-119.
Google Scholar
HŁOBIŁ A., 2012, Psychopedagogiczne aspekty aktywnego nauczania przyrody, in: Rocznik Ochrona Środowiska/Annual Set The Environment Protection vol. 14, p. 960-970.
Google Scholar
JACKSON T., 2008, The Challenge of Sustainable Lifestyle, in: State of the World 2008: Innovations for a Sustainable Economy, World Watch Institute, Norton, New York, p. 45-60.
Google Scholar
JACKSON T., 2009, Prosperity without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet, Earthscan, London.
Google Scholar
KACZMAREK R., 2012, Psychopedagogiczny wymiar ekofilozofii w świetle idei zrównoważonego rozwoju, in: Rocznik Ochrona Środowiska/Annual Set The Environment Protection vol. 14, p. 983-997.
Google Scholar
KIM C., 2008, Study of Life 1, Hwa-nam, Seoul.
Google Scholar
KU D., 2009, The Emergence of Ecological Alternative Movement in Korea, in: Korean Social Science Journal, vol. 36, p. 35-66.
Google Scholar
LEE N., 2007, The Making of Minjung: Democracy and the Politics of Representation in South Korea, Cornell Univ. Press, New York.
Google Scholar
LEE Y., SO A., 1999, Asia’s Environmental Movements: Comparative Perspectives, M. E. Sharpe, New York, 1999.
Google Scholar
MERCHANT C., 2005, Radical Ecology: The Search for a Livable World (2nd ed.), Routledge, New York.
Google Scholar
MOON S., 1992, Ideology, Strategy, and Limitation of Life Movement, in: Phenomenon and Cognition, vol. 56, p. 11-31.
Google Scholar
MOON S., 2006, Discourse of Ecology, Arche, Seoul.
Google Scholar
MSI, Moshim and Salim Institute, 2006, Twenty-Year-Old Hansalim Embraces the World: The Course of Hansalim’s 20 Years, Gmulko, Seoul.
Google Scholar
MURPHY K., 2012, The Social Pillar of Sustainable Development: A Literature Review and Framework for Policy Analysis, in: Sustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy, vol. 8, no 1, p. 15-29.
Google Scholar
NAESS A., 2008, Deep Ecology, in: Ecology: Key Concepts in Critical Theory, 2nd ed., ed. Merchant C., Humanity Books, New York, p. 143-147.
Google Scholar
O’CONNOR J., 2008, Socialism and Ecology, in: Ecology: Key Concepts in Critical Theory, 2nd ed., ed. Merchant C., Humanity Books, New York, p. 189-197.
Google Scholar
PAK M., 2012, Genealogy of Ecophilosophy, in: problem Ekorozwoju/Problems of Sustainable Development, vol. 7, no. 1, p. 7-13.
Google Scholar
PAK M., 2014, A Progress Report on Sustainable Development Research, in: Forum for Development Studies, vol. 14, no. 1, p. 159-164.
Google Scholar
ONE WORLD AWARD, 2014, The Korean Hansalim Federation, http://www.one-world-award.com/hansalim-korea.html (20.04.2015).
Google Scholar
SHIN D., 2007, Friends of Nature 2, Korea Green Foundation Doyosae, Seoul.
Google Scholar
WHITE L., 1967, 1973, The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis, in: Science, vol. 55, p. 1203-7, reprinted in: Western Man and Environmental Ethics: Attitudes Toward Nature and Technology, ed. Barbour I., Addison-Wesley, Reading, p. 18-30.
Google Scholar
WILSON E., 2000, Natural Selections, in: The Writing Life: Writers on How They Think and Work, 2003, ed. Arana M., Public Affairs, New York, p. 351-358.
Google Scholar
YOON H., 2010, Il-soon Chang: A Man Serving Others, A Pioneer in Life Movement, in: Environment and Life, vol. 63, p. 189-203.
Google Scholar
Authors
Michael S. PakSchool of Humanities and Social Sciences, KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), Daejeon, Rep. of Korea Korea, Republic of
Authors
Jeehyun KimGraduate School of Science and Technology Policy, KAIST, Rep. of Korea Korea, Republic of
Statistics
Abstract views: 18PDF downloads: 6
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
