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Volume 52, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 0165-4322
  • E-ISSN: 3050-9947

Abstract

Abstract

This article explores an alternative human–nature relation that acknowledges the inevitable instrumental use without neglecting the moral significance of the natural world. Drawing on Martin Buber’s distinction between I–Thou and I–It relations, I argue that Saint Francis of Assisi’s approach to nature embodies these relations as he treats animals and elements as ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’ while simultaneously acknowledging their practical utility. In addition, I argue that Franciscus’ (Canticle of the Sun) demonstrates a deeply lived experience in which the natural world mediates both a direct encounter with God and a familial connection to creation. I claim that such a ‘relationally religious’ attitude, as I term it, grants moral weight to human interaction with nature: neglect becomes ethically analogous to disregarding one’s family or God, even when instrumental use persists. While neither Buber nor Franciscus provide systematic guidance for enacting this attitude, Franciscus’ example offers a profound ethical orientation that situates responsibility for nature within the individual’s moral self-relation, thus normatively bounding our inevitable instrumental engagement with nature and mitigating the risk of unreflective exploitation of the natural world.

© Mathijs de Jong
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2026-03-01
2026-03-29
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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): Buber; ecology; human-nature relation; Saint Francis
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