Comprehending soil within the context of the land community

Abstract

The foundation of modern science has deep roots in Western culture, reaching back to the 16th and 17th centuries. The central dogma underlying this science is rooted in the mathematics-based science of Rene Descartes. As he articulated in his Meditations published in 1641, Descartes believed that one could and must separate the thinking mind (or subject) from the material world (or object). By doing so, he believed one could establish objective certainty, wholly determinable, and free of any subjective bias. It was on this basis that Descartes reduced material reality to mechanical functions. This perspective formed the basis of the "disinterested" sciences and eventually yielded the knowledge, technologies and culture that spawned the industrial revolution and ultimately industrial agriculture. This philosophy of science also shaped our perceptions of soil within modern agriculture. Descartes view of the world as a collection of mechanistic fragments was part of an emerging school of thought at the time. Francis Bacon, a contemporary who espoused this same philosophy, promoted the idea that nature must be controlled and manipulated for the exclusive benefit of humans. He asserted that we needed to "bend nature to our will." Descartes, in turn, was convinced that with his new science we would become the "masters and possessors of nature." This scientific dogma perpetuated a form of human arrogance which led us to believe that we were what Aldo Leopold warned us not to be: the "conquerors" of the land community. Together Descartes and Bacon led the way in developing a culture that viewed nature, including soil, as a collection of mechanistic fragments to be manipulated for our own benefit. Perceiving nature as a collection of objects separate from us and promoting the belief that nature could be controlled and dominated for our benefit made it inevitable that most soil scientists would view soil as a thing to be manipulated rather than a web of relationships to be appreciated. Sir Albert Howard, Aldo Leopold, Hans Jenny and a few others were the exception to the rule. Influenced by Cartesian science, Justus von Liebig published his Chemistry in the Application to Agriculture and Physiology in 1840. While Von Liebig still adhered to some ecological principles, he believed that we could simplify agricultural production and increase crop yields without the laborious task of enhancing humus in the soil. By inserting chemical fertilizers into the soil he contended that we could significantly increase crop yields. In 1843 John Bennett Lawes and J. H. Gilbert manufactured and patented superphosphates, built the first fertilizer factory and proceeded to demonstrate the validity of Liebigs thesis. Eventually the ability to substitute chemical fertilizers for nutrient cycling practices encouraged farmers to specialize, focus on a few high-value crops grown in monocultures, and abandon integrated crop/livestock systems which incorporated livestock manure and green manure into the soil to an extent that Liebig probably could not have imagined. Sir Albert Howard and a few other agriculturalists at the time took strong exception to this approach to soil management. Howard complained that given what he called Liebigs "NPK mentality,"