Energy ethics, homogenization, and hegemony: A reflection on the traditional energy paradigm

This article grapples with the meanings of the notion 'energy ethics' by looking at the emergence of what I call the 'traditional energy paradigm.' I begin by sketching the distinction between the notions of 'energy ethics' and 'ethics of energy.' Then, by reflecting on ideas and values implied in the modern Western conceptualization of energy, namely its metaphysical assumptions, I show how this concept is a cultural construct influenced by the natural sciences at the cost of a form of reductionism. Energy has been defined as a property of objects, primarily as the capacity of matter to do work. But this and other similar definitions are strongly dependent on geographical and historical contexts which we often dismiss. These definitions stress only certain measurable, quantifiable, and mechanistic properties of reality. By doing so they implicitly have been promoting instrumental and strongly anthropocentric attitudes toward the use of energy and nature. This traditional energy paradigm has been propagated throughout the world via cultural, socio-economic, and techno-scientific colonization. Different actors have carried out such processes, including multinational companies, educational institutions and international organizations. Meantime, on socio-political levels, this way of understanding energy (and hence natural resources), has found strong allies in neoliberal ideology and free-market capitalism. This homogeneous and colonizing understanding of energy is still prevalent in the energy debate and pervasive in energy policies, preventing different worldviews and more diverse values to be considered. In this article, I argue that the conceptual reduction of energy to what is practically useful, and physically and mathematically measurable hinders more nuanced, complex understandings of what energy might be for different social actors. Energy humanities generally, and energy ethnographies specifically, have a key role in contesting this homogenization, colonization, and hegemony. More diverse perspectives will enrich the energy discourse and hence benefit energy policy.