Carelessness and ignorance: the epistemic vices of the privileged analyzed through their waste

This paper brings into a shared conversation social feminist epistemology, ethics of care and discard studies. It does so by reflecting on the two alternative narratives of human evolution as told by Ursula Le Guin in The Carrier Bag Theory. Both assign a central role to technology. However, if in the first story the invention of the carrier bag speaks of a humanity that brings with it what nature generates spontaneously, learning how to conserve it to satisfy human needs, in the second narrative, the invention of the spear tells of a humanity that needs to sacrifice other species in order to survive, that follows a unidirectional, linear logic that makes it incapable of taking into account complexity or the interdependence between humans and the environment. The first tale describes a caring and sharing humanity, who pays careful attention to the material practices that promote the flourishing of human and non-human life, respecting the principles of non-waste and responsibility towards what is consumed. The second one, on the other hand, sees the prevalence of a dissipative human attitude. This latter attitude, I argue in this paper, has led to today’s acceptance of unlimited growth, to today’s wilful ignorance of the pursuant, equally-unlimited growth of waste. The rich and privileged countries of the world, mainly responsible for material goods’ creation, have not yet come to terms with their waste, thanks to the possibility of relegating them to an Elsewhere that often coincides with the global South. This “privileged irresponsibility” rests on technologies of distraction or on diversion of attention from the inequalities, social suffering and injustices produced by the 'slow violence' of the current global social infrastructure.