Imaginary and Literary Works as Clues to Sustainable Science and Technology: Jules Verne, René Descartes, and African Cosmogony

Abstract

This paper explores the intersection of imaginative literature, philosophy, and African cosmology as a framework for rethinking sustainable science and technology. In an era marked by ecological crises, the conceptual foundations of scientific rationality and technological advancement warrant renewed scrutiny. Through a comparative interpretive approach, the study examines how selected works of Jules Verne (Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, The Mysterious Island) and René Descartes (Discourse on Method, Treatise on Man) reflect on the ethical limits and implications of scientific ambition. While Descartes advanced a mechanistic worldview grounded in reason and reductionism, Verne’s speculative narratives, though informed by 19th-century scientific optimism, often caution against environmental excess and anthropocentric exploitation. Both authors, however, offer insights that, when reread through the lens of African cosmogonic traditions, illuminate a richer ecological ethic. African philosophical systems—such as the Oromo’s saffuu code and the Baoulé’s sacred ecology—emphasise balance, reverence for nature, and the moral interconnectedness of all beings. These principles challenge the extractive assumptions of modern science and underscore the ethical responsibility of innovation. The analysis reveals that Verne and Descartes, viewed alongside African cosmology, provide metaphorical and philosophical models for responsible science. The metaphor of Earth as an ‘amniotic enclosure’—with literature as its protective, intuitive fluid—symbolises the need for restraint, humility, and ethical imagination in technological practice. Ultimately, the paper argues that sustainable science is not solely a technical pursuit but a humanistic one, enriched by literary imagination, philosophical reflection, and indigenous ecological wisdom. In synthesising these diverse traditions, the study contributes to interdisciplinary scholarship by positioning literary and philosophical texts as heuristic tools that can guide the future orientation of science within planetary boundaries.