Commonage Consciousness and Fitting in with the Earth: John Moriarty and Deep Ecology

This chapter analyses the work of Irish poet-philosopher John Moriarty in the context of environmental ethics. In particular, it draws parallels with Moriarty’s concept of commonage consciousness and deep ecologist Arne Næss’s understanding of self-realisation. It argues that both concepts constitute similar modes of fitting in with the earth, assuming a radical departure from atomistic, anthropocentric relations to the non-human world and a re-evaluation of norms of subjectivity. The use of story and myth in Moriarty’s philosophy is particularly attended to, with the suggestion that it provides a compelling addition to the ontological focus of deep ecology. While Næss maintains that spontaneous experience is the means by which we can move towards a lived praxis of self-realisation, Moriarty uses story as both a rhetorical device and as a means of grounding commonage consciousness in everyday subjective experience of the world. Through an exploration of both accounts, this chapter notes the relation between ontology, ethics, and action in environmental ethics, and concludes that Moriarty’s use of story provides an important tool in which to further ground normative frameworks in environmental praxis and to actualise new ways of living in and with the more-than-human world.