"Exciting pages to read... written in a scholarly and stimulating way." Günther Kaindlstorfer, BR2 Diwan, February 15, 2023.
"His search for clues brings much that is familiar to light, but the way he assembles and questions his many findings, never cursorily dealing with important matters, but rather rigorously following his trail along the concrete and sometimes seemingly peripheral, while above all remaining a storyteller, makes the book an eye-opening journey." Petra Ahne; Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, January 17, 2023.
"Philipp Blom impressively exposes the double standards of Western thought, whose logic of power allowed itself to be deterred neither by the Christian commandment of fraternity nor by the Enlightenment demands for freedom and equality from considering its own superiority as divinely ordained. On the contrary, he shows with what nonchalance the Enlightenment succeeded in rationally justifying the theological conception of man's exceptional role as 'master of the world.'" Thomas Ribi, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, December 23, 2022
"A key aspect of Blom's arguments, and incidentally without any kid gloves, is to confront people with their own hubris. Then, more elegantly than brutally, to dethrone them and show them their true place." Sylvie-Sophie Schindler, Der Freitag, October 21, 2022
"The book offers highly interesting and insightful reading (...) Fascinating and multifaceted." Dagmar Röhrlich, Deutschlandfunk Andruck, October 17, 2022
"With perfect timing, he not only presents a well-formulated explanation for the looming environmental catastrophe, but also provides a well-informed possible way out… On the one hand, he gets to the heart of the current mood, summarizes the social science discussion, and condenses the history of Western philosophical discourse on the relationship between humanity and the environment. Along the way, the author also delves into some political economy, keyword: capitalism. It's a lot and very informative… The book is well worth reading." Urs Hafner, NZZ am Sonntag, September 25, 2022
«Subdue the Earth» – Philipp Blom’s Universal History of the Subjugation of Nature
God said in Genesis: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.” This instruction seems to have shaped humanity’s relationship with the planet it inhabits.
Combining scholarship and reflection, Philipp Blom traces the evolution of this complex relationship between humanity and nature from antiquity to the present day. Mesopotamian myths, the Epic of Gilgamesh, Greco-Roman thought, and other ancient texts already addressed whether humankind should maintain a position of superiority over nature.
The arrival of modern, rational thought—the Enlightenment, empiricism—did not bring about the questioning or dissolution of that divine mandate, which serves to justify colonialism and slavery, because there are beings without souls and therefore closer to nature than to humanity. And thus we arrive at the present time, peering over the abyss and in urgent need of rethinking.
How should we rethink the idea of progress and our place in nature? Has the evolution of the natural sciences changed our perspective? Are we masters of nature or part of it? How should we face the future?
