ABSTRACT
The early modern travel account of Richard Ligon presents environmentalists with a conundrum. Ligon reports being enraptured by the natural phenomena of Barbados. However, he also condoned deforestation for sugar production. In a critical, eco-phenomenological investigation, Louke van Wensveen uncovers the difference between Ligon’s rapture and a virtuous act of wonder. Expanding on H. Richard Niebuhr’s Christian phenomenology, she argues that we can only respond virtuously to other-than-human beings through interactive encounters. The example of Francis of Assisi shows how engagement in an eco-praxis fosters the relational value discernment that promises a revival of the fitting.
