Racionalidade moderna, complexidade ambiental e direitos humanos: em busca de uma compreensão de vínculos e limites na relação homem-natureza

Abstract

This dissertation has the purpose of analyzing, from a critical Human Rights theory, with its starting point in the Latin-American continent, the environmental crisis that broke out in the late twentieth century and is still present nowadays in the national and international scenarios. One of the objectives is to understand the conditions that led to this emerging environmental scenario, starting with the questioning of the Eurocentric rationality that is based on the colonial and imperialistic premises of developed countries – premises that were legitimized by modern institutions, such as the State, the Law and the Capitalist Market. It will be verified that this paradigm allowed for an anthropocentric relationship between man and nature (the subject-object dichotomy) by contributing to a context of ecological crisis, threatening human existence. In this sense, some theoretical and philosophical foundations will be studied, such as Existential Phenomenology (Heidegger), Environmental Complexity (Leff), and Human Rights Critical Theory (Herrera Flores, Santos, Dussel), in an attempt to overcome the technical and instrumental Cartesian rationality, in search of an environmental rationality that can serve as a basis to consolidate an essential ecological thinking, in order to build a socio-environmental State able to face the conflicts created by the utilitarian logic of the market. Finally, the example of the pollution of the atmosphere that can be observed in the metropolitan region of Vitória, in the State of Espírito Santo, will be used to analyze an interlocutory appeal decision made by the Espírito Santo Court of Justice, when ruling a class action filed by the State Prosecution Office of Espírito Santo in order to question the basis of that decision.