The Future of Our Illusions: A Psychoanalytic Rendering of Western Social Imaginaries

The social imaginaries of Western culture produce an ontological rift between human beings and other species, which has become increasingly evident in the climate crisis. The internalization of these social imaginaries means that identity, worth, and relationships of Western subjects are founded on ecologically destructive illusions of human superiority, normativity, exemptionalism, and dominion over “nature.” Donnel Stern’s notion of weak dissociation is used to explicate not only the radical disidentification between the human and other species and systematic projection onto other species the reality of human’s existential insignificance, but also the resistance to let go of these illusions. If one accepts the invitation to acknowledge these illusions, the process of disillusionment and mourning renders the apparatuses of the rift inoperative, creating spaces for more capacious ecological epistemologies that entail an inclusive ethic of care and justice.