"Man shapes himself through decisions that shape his environment"
About this Quote
Dubos slips a whole environmental philosophy into a sentence that sounds like common sense. The pivot is “through decisions”: not instincts, not fate, not even “progress,” but choice. Coming from a scientist who helped popularize “Think globally, act locally,” the line is a quiet rebuttal to two comforting stories modern life tells: that humans are simply victims of their surroundings, or that we can engineer our way out of consequences without changing our habits.
The subtext is ethical. “Man shapes himself” isn’t self-help; it’s a warning that identity is downstream from what we permit, build, buy, and normalize. Dubos treats the environment not as “nature” out there, but as the total human habitat - cities, agriculture, technology, policy, even cultural expectations. Each decision tilts that habitat, and the altered habitat then reaches back and edits our behavior, health, and values. It’s a feedback loop, not a one-way impact statement.
The intent is also anti-determinist in a very 20th-century way. Writing in an era scarred by industrial pollution, suburban expansion, and ecological panic, Dubos resists apocalyptic fatalism. He implies leverage: if environments are shaped, they can be reshaped. But he refuses the clean fantasy of control. The environment we “shape” becomes the environment that shapes us, meaning every convenience carries a training effect. Build for cars, you manufacture drivers; build for community, you manufacture neighbors. Dubos makes ecology personal without making it sentimental.
The subtext is ethical. “Man shapes himself” isn’t self-help; it’s a warning that identity is downstream from what we permit, build, buy, and normalize. Dubos treats the environment not as “nature” out there, but as the total human habitat - cities, agriculture, technology, policy, even cultural expectations. Each decision tilts that habitat, and the altered habitat then reaches back and edits our behavior, health, and values. It’s a feedback loop, not a one-way impact statement.
The intent is also anti-determinist in a very 20th-century way. Writing in an era scarred by industrial pollution, suburban expansion, and ecological panic, Dubos resists apocalyptic fatalism. He implies leverage: if environments are shaped, they can be reshaped. But he refuses the clean fantasy of control. The environment we “shape” becomes the environment that shapes us, meaning every convenience carries a training effect. Build for cars, you manufacture drivers; build for community, you manufacture neighbors. Dubos makes ecology personal without making it sentimental.
Quote Details
| Topic | Decision-Making |
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