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Existence is a pre-requisite to ontological studies.

Paul Wapneris associate professor and director of the Global Environmental Policy Program at American University. "Leftist Criticism of."

Winter 2003. http://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/?article=539

THE THIRD response to eco-criticism would require critics to acknowledge the ways in which they themselves silence nature and then to respect

the sheer otherness of the nonhuman world. Postmodernism prides itself on criticizing the urge toward mastery that characterizes modernity.

But what post opdernisin is exertbui as it captures the nonhuman world within its ow Doesn't postmodern cultural criticism deepen the

modernist urge toward mastery by eliminating the ontological weight of the nonhuman world? What else could it mean to assert that there is

no such thing as nature? I have already suggested the postmodernist response: yes, recognizing the social construction of

"nature" does deny the self-expression of the nonhuman world, but how would we know what such self-

expression means? Indeed, nature doesn't speak; rather, some person always speaks on nature's behalf, and whatever that person says

is, as we all know, a social construction. All attempts to listen to nature are social constructions-except one. Even the most radical

postmodernist must acknowledge the distinction between physical existence and non-existence. As I have said,

postmodernists accept that there is a physical substratum to the phenomenal world even if they argue

about the different meanings we ascribe to it. This acknowledgment of physical existence is crucial. Wecan't ascribe meaning to that which doesn't appear. What doesn't exist can manifest no character. Put differently , yes, thepostmodernists )including environmentalists who do that). But we need not doubt the simple idea that a prerequisite of expression is existence.

This in turn suggests that preserving the nonhuman world-in all its diverse embodiments-must be seen by eco-critics as a fundamental good.

Eco-critics must be supporters, in some fashion, of environmental preservation.

It is impossible to separate structural from direct violence, and nuclear war outweighs.Hanna Newcombe, 2008, Founder of the Peace Research Institute Dundas, "On Violence," (first published online as of 2008, originaldate not given) http://www.hannanewcombe.com/on-violence

Direct (intentional) violence and structural violence are convertible into each other, like kinetic and potential

energy during the swing of a pendulum. At the top of its swing, the pendulum has only potential and nokinetic energy; at the bottom, when the rod is vertical, there is only kinetic and no potential energy; at

intermediate positions, there is some of each. Similarly, in periods of (negative) peace after a conquest,

there is only structural violence and no direct violence; in a period of active warfare(for example a liberation

struggle), there is mainly direct violence. Each side tries to achieve victory, i.e. end up as dominator instead of dominated, predator

rather than prey; i.e. to avoid structural violence to itself while able to inflict it on the other. Similarly, in establishing the pecking order

among barnyard chickens, direct violence (pecking) is practised until it becomes clear who is the dominator over whom and who is dominated

by whom. When the domination hierarchy has been established, there is no more need for direct violence, i.e. active pecking. There is

hierarchical order, there is negative peace. But the underdog (under-chicken?) gets less food and suffers from chronic anxiety; it is less healthy

and probably finds no mates to reproduce. The poor creature at the lowest rung of the social ladder suffers from potential violence,

expecting to be pecked at any time; and this potential violence is like the potential energy in the pendulum metaphor. Peace research, as part

of human betterment research (K. Bouldings term), is like medical science, which tries to cure or prevent diseases. The disease which

peace research tries to cure or prevent is violence at all levels,not only war between nations; though priority must

be given to the prevention of all-out nuclear war which might be totally destructive. Other parts of humanbetterment research would be justice research, freedom research, etc.

http://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/?article=539http://www.hannanewcombe.com/on-violencehttp://www.hannanewcombe.com/on-violencehttp://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/?article=539