Umberto Eco and His Views on Ecology
The Italian philosopher Umberto Eco has stated and presented his views on just about every aspect of human life and existence – including the environment and man’s place and perception of it. The root of Umberto Eco’s views on ecology can be traced back to one of his most famous essays, “Travels in Hyperreality”.
In this 1975 essay, Umberto Eco asks a variety of questions regarding the truth about ecology. Inspired by a trip to the world famous San Diego Zoo, Eco questioned whether or not humans (or American’s in particular) were ready to face the truths behind the concept of ecology. He argued that to the untrained or the uneducated, ecology is nothing more than an exaggerated and untruthful version of reality (Eco). Most of what we perceive as being related to ecology and ecological thought and philosophy is artificial, unreal, and nothing short of an outright lie.
Places like the San Diego Zoo do more to encourage an atmosphere of falsehoods, lies, and hyperreality than to discourage it, at least according to Umberto Eco. Eco discussed mankind’s efforts to create something that is better than the original - more real than real, more beautiful than beauty, more natural than nature. Umberto Eco referred to this as the “Absolute Fake.” As humans, we always feel that we can do things better than Mother Nature can. As a result, we lose touch with the real aspects of our world, including the environment, and come to look upon nature with disappointment when it is unable to give us the same experiences that an artificially created world can.
Humans it seems are not truly interested in real ecology. Today, our fascination is with artificially created environments, reproductions, and fantasies. The truth about ecology and the environment is not as romantic and as convenient as we want it to be, and thus, we continue to promote a love of a false natural world, despite outward appearances to the contrary. As nature and the environment become more and more fictionalized, so does human culture and society as a whole. Humanity’s need to provide and create the perfect perception of the environment is erasing and ignoring the reality of the world we live in.
To Umberto Eco, this increasingly fake and artificial view of the natural world may be used as a way for humans to escape the realities of every day life, but in doing so, it also move humans farther and farther away from what makes the human (Eco). This need to escape is but a falsehood, and despite the imperfections, reality it seems is still the best and most acceptable alternative.
Humans have placed entirely too much faith in fakes and falsehoods, especially when it comes to ecology. Artificial zoos and enclosures may be more convenient, but they are not real, and as such, have no true essence. Still, human society is drawn to these fakes, despite the fact that they have nothing real to offer.
In his views on ecology, Umberto Eco argues that going to a zoo or taking a walk through a park or preserve does not make you an ecologist, and at the same time, a nature preserve is nothing close to being natural. You have to experience nature and the natural world as it is, not as humans think it should be. The natural world is not perfect and not convenient, but it should be enjoyed and experienced for what and how it is. Ecology does not exist behind steel bars or plexiglass windows.
Written by Martin Jauregui
References
Eco, U. Travels in Hyperreality. Florida: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1986.
Phillips, D. “Ecocriticism, Literary Theory, and the Truth of Ecology.” New Literary History 30.3 (1999): 577-602.
Tags: environment, fascination, human culture, perception, society, Umberto Eco
