Eel Ethics and Epistemic Humility in Rachel Carson’s Under the Sea-Wind

In this essay, I explore Rachel Carson’s book Under the Sea-Wind through the lens of contemporary environmental philosophy and ecofeminist thought. I argue that the centring of nonhuman experiences in this work represents a critique to anthropocentric models built on reductionistic boundaries between humans and the natural world. To illustrate this, I draw upon Carson’s narrative of an American eel migrating back to the Sargasso Sea, which serves as a creative example of what ecofeminist philosopher Val Plumwood calls the “intentional recognition stance”—a generous acknowledgment of the lives of other beings. Carson’s sensitive engagement with the fictional eel, Anguilla, challenges the human-nonhuman divide while also reckoning with the radical and incomprehensible difference that the eel represents. In conclusion, I consider how this theoretical approach from Carson, centring upon epistemic humility, can inform responses to the biodiversity crises affecting less-visible species like eels, gulls, and other so-called non-charismatic animals.