Study Guide and Text Supplement: Native American and Euro-American worldviews

                Native American views of nature form a sharp contrast with views frequently held by Euro-Americans. The materialist views of Democritus and Hobbes, in combination with the individualism of the libertarian traditions, have gone a long way to shaping the Euro-American views of nature and the relationship between humans and nature.

                For many Euro-Americans, nature is a wilderness that must be overcome. Domination over nature is the only way to protect humans from the ravages of nature, according to this tradition. Nature has no meaning other than the meaning assigned to it by human beings. Nature is seen as a recreation ground and animals are often killed for mere sport.

                Native American views of nature are quite different. Rather than seeking to dominate nature, Native Americans observe nature closely in an attempt to understand. The earth is viewed as our mother and the sky our father, so humans are part of a biotic family. Rather than exploiting nature and its resources for gain, native Americans seek to preserve resources and make the most efficient use of them as possible. The “hunter of good heart” is one who acknowledges the place of humans in relationship to animals. In the next life, the hunter explains, the hunter may be the prey and the prey the hunter. Animals are killed only for food and survival, not for sport.

                Native Americans pass on their philosophy to the next generation through stories, and their stories reflect a close connection between humans and animals. Rather than a competitive relationship, the human-animal relationship is generally portrayed as one of respect. The ingenuity of animals is a common theme in the stories.

                Native Americans adopt a seven-generation perspective in shaping policies. An individual, with a degree of good fortune, can personally encounter seven family generations—parents, grandparents and great-grandparents as well as children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. The wisdom of the ancestors is taken into account in policy-making, and multiple future generations are provided for in the policies that are adopted.

                Native American traditions draw upon a circular notion of time, in contrast to Euro-American that favor a linear conception of time. The linear view sees time move from a simpler, more primitive past to a better future. In one version of the Euro-American traditions, this movement is from a garden of Eden to a future in heaven; in another version science elevates humans from a primitive natural state to a state of civilization. Civilization is held to provide a better, more desirable world since it issues in an increase of human welfare.

                The circular view of time held by native Americans, by contrast, looks to nature as a cycle of production and reproduction. In the present moment, the past with its wisdom is preserved for future generations. Nature does not give way to civilization; nature and its ways must be carefully studied and remembered.