The Philosophical Foundations of Ecological Civilization

The Philosophical Foundations of Ecological Civilization PDF

Author: Arran Gare

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-08-05

Total Pages: 299

ISBN-13: 1134866135

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The global ecological crisis is the greatest challenge humanity has ever had to confront, and humanity is failing. The triumph of the neo-liberal agenda, together with a debauched ‘scientism’, has reduced nature and people to nothing but raw materials, instruments and consumers to be efficiently managed in a global market dominated by corporate managers, media moguls and technocrats. The arts and the humanities have been devalued, genuine science has been crippled, and the quest for autonomy and democracy undermined. The resultant trajectory towards global ecological destruction appears inexorable, and neither governments nor environmental movements have significantly altered this, or indeed, seem able to. The Philosophical Foundations of Ecological Civilization is a wide-ranging and scholarly analysis of this failure. This book reframes the dynamics of the debate beyond the discourses of economics, politics and techno-science. Reviving natural philosophy to align science with the humanities, it offers the categories required to reform our modes of existence and our institutions so that we augment, rather than undermine, the life of the ecosystems of which we are part. From this philosophical foundation, the author puts forth a manifesto for transforming our culture into one which could provide an effective global environmental movement and provide the foundations for a global ecological civilization.

Beautiful China: 70 Years Since 1949 and 70 People’s Views on Eco-civilization Construction

Beautiful China: 70 Years Since 1949 and 70 People’s Views on Eco-civilization Construction PDF

Author: Jiahua Pan

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-03-01

Total Pages: 775

ISBN-13: 9813367423

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This book discusses and studies the basic course of ecological civilization construction in the 70 years since the founding of the People’s Republic of China and summarizes the experience and lessons. It contains 75 articles from 75 top experts and government officials in the field of ecological civilization policy-making and basic theory research in China, including Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, ecological culture, green industry economy, environmental quality, legal system, ecological security and so on, so as to provide reference for understanding and studying the progress of ecological environment protection since the founding of China.

Autonomous Nature

Autonomous Nature PDF

Author: Carolyn Merchant

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-08-27

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 1317395875

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Autonomous Nature investigates the history of nature as an active, often unruly force in tension with nature as a rational, logical order from ancient times to the Scientific Revolution of the seventeenth century. Along with subsequent advances in mechanics, hydrodynamics, thermodynamics, and electromagnetism, nature came to be perceived as an orderly, rational, physical world that could be engineered, controlled, and managed. Autonomous Nature focuses on the history of unpredictability, why it was a problem for the ancient world through the Scientific Revolution, and why it is a problem for today. The work is set in the context of vignettes about unpredictable events such as the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, the Bubonic Plague, the Lisbon Earthquake, and efforts to understand and predict the weather and natural disasters. This book is an ideal text for courses on the environment, environmental history, history of science, or the philosophy of science.

The Philosophy of Social Ecology

The Philosophy of Social Ecology PDF

Author: Murray Bookchin

Publisher: AK Press

Published: 2022-04-19

Total Pages: 127

ISBN-13: 1849354413

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What is nature? What is humanity's place in nature? And what is the relationship of society to the natural world? In an era of ecological breakdown, answering these questions has become of momentous importance for our everyday lives and for the future that we and other life-forms face. In the essays of The Philosophy of Social Ecology, Murray Bookchin confronts these questions head on: invoking the ideas of mutualism, self-organization, and unity in diversity, in the service of ever expanding freedom. Refreshingly polemical and deeply philosophical, they take issue with technocratic and mechanistic ways of understanding and relating to, and within, nature. More importantly, they develop a solid, historically and politically based ethical foundation for social ecology, the field that Bookchin himself created and that offers us hope in the midst of our climate catastrophe.

Conceiving an Alternative

Conceiving an Alternative PDF

Author: David E. Conner

Publisher:

Published: 2019-04-11

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13: 9781940447407

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The essays in this volume are not limited to any single theme or subject. Some of the chapters are focused on the impact of various philosophical perspectives on environmentalism. Others roam into issues of Western philosophy stretching all the way from Plato and Aristotle to Bergson and Whitehead. Notwithstanding this diversity of topics, all of the authors attempt in varying ways to draw conclusions that are relevant to a renewed commitment to the health of planet Earth. It is the underlying contention of these authors that philosophy can help us respond imaginatively, constructively, and creatively to the ecological issues of our age. How? For one thing, our deep-seated and often unnoticed presuppositions about the nature of reality have direct bearing on our attitudes and actions, and philosophy can help us bring those presuppositions to light and think critically about them. What is more, philosophy can help us formulate and defend more adequate, plausible, and beneficial outlooks on the natural world and the place of human beings within the community of all earthly creatures. The shared goal of all the chapters is to find new philosophical and theological inspiration as we human creatures seek to respond imaginatively, constructively, and creatively to the ecological issues of our age, recognizing that we desperately need to conceive an alternative to the pervasive worldviews that have led our civilization to the brink of catastrophe.

Philosophical Foundations for the Practices of Ecology

Philosophical Foundations for the Practices of Ecology PDF

Author: William A. Reiners

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2009-11-12

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 9780521115698

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Ecologists use a remarkable range of methods and techniques to understand complex, inherently variable, and functionally diverse entities and processes across a staggering range of spatial, temporal and interactive scales. These multiple perspectives make ecology very different to the exemplar of science often presented by philosophers. In Philosophical Foundations for the Practices of Ecology, designed for graduate students and researchers, ecology is put into a new philosophical framework that engages with this inherent pluralism while still placing constraints on the ways that we can investigate and understand nature. The authors begin by exploring the sources of variety in the practice of ecology and how these have led to the current conceptual confusion. They argue that the solution is to adopt the approach of constrained perspectivism and go on to explore the ontological, metaphysical, and epistemological aspects of this position and how it can be used in ecological research and teaching.

Spiritual and Ecological Civilization

Spiritual and Ecological Civilization PDF

Author: Irina Valerjevna Fotieva

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2019-01-03

Total Pages: 107

ISBN-13: 1527524116

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The book discuss one of the most acute problems facing society today, namely choosing ways for the further development of mankind. Its analysis of global crises of modern ‘technogenic and consumer’ civilization shows the necessity and possibility of transitioning to a new type of civilization, which could be called ‘spiritually-ecological’. The volume demonstrates the real indicators of such a transformation in all spheres of human life and the main problems of such a transition.

Postmodernism and the Environmental Crisis

Postmodernism and the Environmental Crisis PDF

Author: Arran Gare

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2006-08-21

Total Pages: 206

ISBN-13: 1134802722

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Postmodernism and the Environmental Crisis is the only book to combine cultural theory and environmental philosophy. In it, Arran Gare analyses the conjunction between the environmental crisis, the globalisation of capitalism and the disintegration of the culture of modernity. It explains the paradox of growing concern for the environment and the paltry achievements of environmental movements. Through a critique of the philosophies underlying approaches to the environmental crisis, Arran Gare puts forward his own, controversial theory of a new postmodern world view. This would be the foundation for the environmental movement to succeed. Arran Gare's work will be a vital reading for advanced students of environmental studies, as well as for environmental philosophers and cultural theorists.