Feminist or Functional Cosmology? Ecofeminist Musings on Thomas Berry's Functional Cosmology

Abstract

Over the course of several decades, Thomas Berry developed notions of functional and dysfunctional cosmologies. These are complex concepts containing constellations of ideas and meanings gleaned over a lifetime of experiences and reflection. Berry’s work, since the early 1970s, has been motivated by the assessment and resolution of the ecological crisis, for which a functional cosmology is central. The pre-sent discussion is on Berry’s notion of a functional cosmology, followed by some implications from an ecofeminist perspective. Although he is cited frequently, there has been very little exposition or evaluation of Berry’s proposal; therefore I will describe first some core aspects of his meaning behind a functional cosmology.