Learning from mushrooms on how to think virtues in the ruins of capitalism from the perspective of ecology of practices

Reading Tsing, Stengers, and MacIntyre

Abstract

The contemporary ecological crisis has generated debates and challenges for philosophy, placing above all the task of considering about the formation of subjects capable of acting under conditions of precarity and interdependence. Drawing on the matsutake mushrooms described by Anna Tsing, the ecology of practices of Isabelle Stengers, and the virtue ethics of Alasdair MacIntyre, this article argues that inhabiting the ruins of capitalism requires the cultivation of virtues developed through concrete practices of conviviality, attentiveness, and care. As a first step, we analyze how Tsing conceives of precarity as an ontological condition of contemporary life, bringing the matsutake forward as a philosophical figure for considering forms of existence and resistance in disturbance zones. We then articulate Stengers’s ecology of practices to show that each mode of acting and knowing produces its own sensibilities and demands attention to its conditions of survival. In the third part, we revisit MacIntyre’s structural account of virtues (practice, internal goods, and tradition) to argue that it can be read ecologically. The dialogue between these three perspectives allows us to formulate five virtues for inhabiting the ruins: ecological humility; attentiveness; cooperation; resilience; and practical hope. We conclude by affirming the relevance of reflecting on the matsutake as a philosophical model of relational persistence in times of collapse.