This undergraduate thesis analyzes man’s current and former relationship to nature with an emphasis on human consciousness, its functioning and development throughout history. The key elements here are the diaphoric structure of our consciousness and the actions that arise from it: the basic act of establishing distinctions, as well as culture (and more specifically, religion) as a product of this differentiation. Depending on the method and degree of differentiation, we can distinguish between mythic and logical consciousness. In the first, man was in a predominantly unified relationship with the world around him, while in the second he already draws clear divisions between himself and everything else, and space and time are also indispensable tools for his making sense of the world. In this way, the initially formal diaphora became absolute. One of the fundamental consequences of the increasing implementation of diaphora is that man sees himself as a subject and nature as an object. This kind of difference opens up for him the possibility of a more or less ethical relationship with nature – the possibility of responsibility or exploitation. The latter dominates today’s world and thus threatens the survival of us and other living beings; therefore, it would make sense to start treating nature responsibly again and to return to it at least a part of its lost autonomy.
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