"Fungorum More": The Concept of Interdependence from Hobbes to Butler

The Hobbesian state of nature revolves around the metaphor of men having grown mushroom-like, fungorum more. This metaphor obscures the generative power of the mother and thus the human condition of dependence. Confronting this phantasmatic imaginary and identifying an alternative to it is one central goal in contemporary feminist thought, as exemplified in particular by Judith Butler’s political philosophy. Contemporary mycological studies of the real life of fungi and their ability to construct a true “wood-wide web” help facilitate a different imaginary, one which is centered on the question of interdependency among humans, and between humans and non-humans. This essay further questions the possibilities and limits of a political thought that turns the biological fact of interdependency into a value.