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This is the first book-length treatment of the metaphysical foundations of ecological ethics. The author seeks to provide a metaphysical illumination of the fundamental ecological intuitions that we are in some sense `one with' nature and that everything is connected with everything else. Drawing on contemporary cosmology, systems theory and the history of philosophy, Freya Mathews elaborates a new metaphysics of `interconnectedness'. She offers an inspiring vision of the spiritual implications of ecology, which leads to a deepening of our conception of conservation.
In this sequel to For Love of Matter: A Contemporary Panpsychism, also published by SUNY Press, Freya Mathews argues that replacing the materialist premise of modern civilization with a panpsychist one transforms the entire fabric of culture in profound ways. She claims that the environmental crisis is a symptom of deeper issues facing modern civilization arising from the loss of the very meaning of culture. To come to grips with this crisis requires a change in the metaphysical premise of modernity deeper than any as yet envisaged even by the radical ecology movement. This is a change with profound implications for the full range of existential questions and not merely for questions regarding our relationship with "nature."
In For Love of Matter Freya Mathews challenges basic assumptions of Western science, modern philosophy, and environmental philosophy, arguing that the environmental crisis is a symptom of a larger, metaphysical crisis. Western science rests on the premise that the world is an inert backdrop to human presence rather than a communicative presence in its own right, one capable of dialogical congress with us. Mathews explores the transformative effects of a substitution of the latter, panpsychist premise for the former, materialist one. She suggests that to exist in a dialogical modality is to enter an expanded realm of eros in which the self and world are mutually kindled into a larger, more incandescent state of realization. She argues that any adequate philosophical response to the so-called "environmental crisis" cannot be encompassed within the minor discipline of environmental philosophy but must instead address the full range of existential questions.
This is the first book-length treatment of the metaphysical foundations of ecological ethics. The author seeks to provide a metaphysical illumination of the fundamental ecological intuitions that we are in some sense `one with' nature and that everything is connected with everything else. Drawing on contemporary cosmology, systems theory and the history of philosophy, Freya Mathews elaborates a new metaphysics of `interconnectedness'. She offers an inspiring vision of the spiritual implications of ecology, which leads to a deepening of our conception of conservation.
What is soul? Can it be forfeited? Can it be traded away? If it can, what would ensue? What consequences would follow from loss of soul - for the individual, for society, for the earth? In the early nineteenth century, Goethe's hero, Faust, became a defining archetype of modernity, a harbinger of the existential possibilities and moral complexities of the modern condition. But today the dire consequences of the Faustian pact with the devil are becoming alarmingly visible. In light of this, how would Goethe's arguably flawed drama play out in a 21st-century century setting? Would a contemporary Faust sign up to a demonic deal? Indeed what, in the wake of two hundred years of social and econom...
In Without Animals Life Is Not Worth Living, eco-philosopher Freya Mathews livens up her theme - that the company of animals is indispensable to human existence - by way of the story of an anarchic but irresistible pig. 'In this captivating story of a pig and a philosopher, Freya takes up the narratival mode of exposition that has recently engaged philosophers. Her account of Pookie tells of a human person's love across a huge species boundary. Few pigs have been so fondly and respectfully brought into print. Freya's philosophical commitment to truth leads her into unfashionable conclusions: pigs are not particularly intelligent, she tells us. On the basis of life with Pookie, she finds pigs to be determined, focussed and insistent, but not demonstrably smart. Having made that point, Freya goes on to provide a vivid account of Pookie's actual sentience: her sense of self, her joy, her determination, her later dejection, and her capacity for remembrance.' - Deborah Bird Rose
What is the optimal political framework for environmental reform - reform on a scale commensurate with the global ecological crisis? How adequate are liberal forms of parliamentary democracy to face the challenges posed? These are the questions pondered by the contributors to this volume.
Synkretic is an independent and not-for-profit journal of philosophy. It specialises in translating and bringing past and present Indo-Pacific thinkers into dialogue with Western philosophical ideas and traditions.
This study considers the problems of defining and valuing "environmental damage" from the perspective of international and comparative law. The need for a broad and systematic evaluation of this issue is illustrated by the number of topics presently on the international law-making agenda to which it is relevant, including the UN Compensation Commission's decisions on compensation for environmental losses suffered by Kuwait in the Gulf War, nuclear and oil pollution liability regimes, the development of an environmental liability protocol to the Antarctic Treaty and other agreements on bio-safety and genetically modified organisms. It is thus an important element in contemporary efforts to strengthen legal remedies for environmental harm which does not necessarily come within traditional categories of legally protected personal or property rights.
Utilitarianism – a commitment to ‘the greatest happiness for the greatest number’ – has been the target of endless opposition. According to its critics, it ignores the separateness of persons, cannot secure the protections of basic rights, demands extreme sacrifice, can justify anything – the list goes on. It has been implicated in the horrors of settler colonialism, imperialism, and racial capitalism, both historically and today, as the neoliberal world order faces a profound legitimation crisis. Bart Schultz argues that utilitarian philosophy must be decolonized and reimagined for the current moment: a time of new and looming existential threats, in a world desperate for social c...