From the problem of “secondary qualities” to intrinsically relational identity. Environmental implications.

My proposal connects three arguments from Arne Naess, Alfred North Whitehead and Hans Jonas, sharing an initial critical reference to the problem of “secondary qualities”, from which I draw relevant consequences for ecophilosophical thinking. “Secondary qualities” and their ontological difference from the so-called “primary qualities” are regarded as a token of the necessity of reframing the emergence of our worldview and the status of subjectivity. passive inert matter. The purpose of this outline is to put forth a relational perspective on identity of selves. Relational identity, inevitably, includes a practical dimension in two respects. Firstly, it does so in the epistemic determination of the emergence of subject and objects, always conditioned by dimensions of experience, of which cognitive mentality is only one aspect, far from being its paramount. Secondly, the conjunction of relationalism and perspectivism produces a practical attitude of “letting be”, respect of «otherness», openness to dialogue and further normative agreement in conflict resolution, and the very possibility of thinking a principle of “egalitarianism”.