From Emancipation to Ecosophy: Politics, Ecology, and a New Kinship for Indonesia
By,Ali Aminulloh
Contributor Jaya-News.com
Summarized from the Inaugural Professorial Lecture at UNJ by Prof. Dr. Robet, MA
Opening: Gratitude and Initial Reflections
During the open session of the Senate of Universitas Negeri Jakarta,Thursday June 12,2025 Prof. Robet expressed his gratitude to the Rector of Universitas Negeri Jakarta, Prof. Komarudin M.Si, the Board of Professors, Prof. Ahmad Sya, S.Pd. MPd, faculty leadership, fellow professors, and invited guests present.
Although initially intending to deliver his speech without a text, Prof. Robet realized that an academic oration at such an event required careful guidance. Thus, he chose to read his speech, fully aware of the meaning and message he wished to convey.
The Paradox of Modernity and the Moral Crisis of Technology
Prof. Robet addressed the grand theme of contemporary human anxieties, living under the shadow of paradox. On one hand, modern humans celebrate astonishing technological and global communication achievements. Yet, on the other hand, this progress has given rise to worries and uncertainties. Wars, social conflicts, pandemics, ecological disasters, and various new diseases have become part of a constantly changing and difficult-to-control world.
He quoted Anthony Giddens and Gunter Anders in describing the phenomenon of “apocalyptic blindness”—a condition where modern society is unable to recognize and acknowledge the destructive threats of technology. This inability stems from an excessive faith in progress and a failure to imagine the downfall of civilization.
Prof. Robet emphasized that technology often obscures moral responsibility. The bomb button pressed by a pilot in Hiroshima, the drone dropping bombs in Gaza, and even fake accounts spreading defamation on social media, all create a distance between action and consequence. This distance, he argued, erases a sense of responsibility and magnifies the risk of apocalypse.
He referred to Ulrich Beck’s idea of “risk society”—a society where the distribution of risk becomes the primary issue, no longer the distribution of wealth. Modernity generates uncontrollable risks, as seen in the Lapindo mudflow case, which technology could not halt.
Critique of Emancipation and Latour’s Proposition
In this section, Prof. Robet questioned the relevance of the idea of emancipation in addressing contemporary ecological and technological crises. He stated that emancipation, whether in the Marxist or liberal tradition, is anthropocentric—human-centered—and therefore fails to comprehend the human relationship with nature.
As an alternative, he offered the thoughts of French philosopher Bruno Latour. Latour rejects the human-nature dichotomy and proposes the concept that all entities, both human and non-human, are actors in a relational network. According to Latour, knowledge is not purely the result of human rationality but a collective construction involving many actors: scientists, laboratories, instruments, even test animals and documents.
The COVID-19 pandemic, Prof. Robet noted, served as proof that humans and nature cannot be separated. This crisis was not just a medical issue, but also social, ethical, and philosophical. Philosophy, he asserted, remains crucial in answering fundamental questions of meaning, purpose, and responsibility.
Nationalism and the Representation of Nature
Subsequently, Prof. Robet connected Latour’s philosophy with Indonesian nationalism. He illustrated how national songs elevate nature as a symbol of identity and struggle. However, in the practice of modern nationalism, nature is often reduced to an aesthetic object or property.
The most evident example is the Grasberg mine in Papua. There, technology tears apart the mountain’s body for mineral extraction, creating a paradox between progress and destruction. Nationalism, according to Prof. Robet, must move from the romanticism of the homeland towards the recognition of nature as a legal and political subject.
He proposed the concept of “de-growth” or democratization of growth—that is, halting destructive expansion, redirecting resources for people’s basic needs, and expanding public services and social justice. In this context, politics must create space for nature to be represented as an actor that is both affected by and impacts decisions.
Epilogue: Hope from the Ruins
Concluding his oration, Prof. Robet did not wish for his audience to leave in sadness. He shared the story of the Matsutake mushroom growing in the damaged forests of Oregon, as written by anthropologist Anna Tsing in “The Mushroom at the End of the World.” This mushroom can only grow in a ruined ecosystem, and precisely there, new opportunities for life emerge.
This story serves as a metaphor for hope: that even in ruins, humans can still find a way to live. That amidst ecological devastation and the crisis of modernity, we can still seek openings to rebuild—with philosophy, science, and wisdom.
Thus concluded Prof. Robet’s academic oration: a reflective invitation to reorder our relationship with nature, technology, and one another—not with the old spirit of emancipation, but with a new vision: ecosophy.**
Jakarta,June 12,2025
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