About this book
This is an accessible book that puts environmental thinking on a new footing by discussing the inconsistencies, both scientific and philosophical, of popular environmentalism. The primary focus is to shed new perspectives on the spectrum of environmental issues, causes, and debates that embrace society today. Key ideas are presented in terms of popular environmental issues and in a that is readable and scientifically sound. The end goal is to provide students and the informed public with the basis for a more reasoned, more scientific, and more productive debate.
Contents
Introduction: Why I Wrote This Book.
Chapter 1: The Need for a Philosophy of Nature.
1.1 The Goal of This Book.
1.2 The Structure of This Book.
1.3 The Need for Objectivity.
1.4 The Need for Philosophy.
1.5 The Rise of Environmentalism.
1.6 Philosophy of Nature as a Path.
Chapter 2: Environmentalism's Apocalyptic Assumption.
2.1 The Environmentalist Worldview.
2.2 Is There an Environmental Crisis?
2.3 Our Emotional Environment..
Chapter 3: Environmentalism's Transcendental Objective.
3.1 The Environmentalist Value System.
3.2 Environmental Health as a Transcendent Objective.
3.3 Three Elements of Tragedy.
Chapter 4: Environmentalism's Anti-Human Bias.
4.1 Can Nature Do Any Harm?
4.2 Environmentalists on Humankind.
4.3 Is Modern Civilization Bad for Nature?
4.4 Environmentalists' Personal Values.
4.5 Environmentalism's Institutional Ethics.
Chapter 5: Science, Environmentalism, and Environmental Science.
5.1 Environmentalism and Science.
5.2 The Rise of Environmental Science.
5.3 Environmental Science and Values.
Chapter 6: Pure Environmental Science.
6.1 The Rise and Fall of Scientific Proof.
6.2 The Rise of Modeling.
6.3 Models and Truth.
6.4 Protecting Science's Value-Neutrality.
6.5 The Value-Neutrality of Environmental Science.
6.6 The Special Challenge Faced by Pure Environmental Science.
Chapter 7: Nature and the Sacred.
7.1 Nature and Religion.
7.2 Christianity and the "Environmental Crisis".
7.3 Environmental Science and the Sacred.
7.4 Beyond Environmental Religiosity.
7.5 The Naturally Sacred.
7.6 Is Accepting Responsibility for Nature Sacrilegious?.
Chapter 8: Nature and Romance.
8.1 Environmentalism and Romance.
8.2 Romance and Science.
8.3 Romance and Alienation.
8.4 The Classical Roots of Romanticism.
8.5 Logical Analysis of Romanticism.
8.6 The Balance of Nature Is a Romantic Fantasy.
8.7 The Ecosystem Is a Romantic Fantasy.
8.8 Our Sense of Alienation from Nature.
Chapter 9: Nature and Values.
9.1 Natural Value.
9.2 The Value of Life Itself.
9.3 Are We Alienated From Nature?
9.4 Our Separation from--and Union with--Nature.
9.5 The Value of Freedom.
Chapter 10: Backwards or Forwards?
10.1 Back to Nature: Leopold and Callicott.
10.2 The Environmentalist's Vilification of Domestic Animals.
10.3 The Environmentalist's Vilification of Human Domesticity.
10.4 Forward: Accepting Our Responsibility .
10.5 Forward: Our Unique Abilities .
Chapter 11: A Vision of the Future.
11.1 Our Ongoing Role Reversal with Nature.
11.2 We Are the Emerging Nervous System of the Planet.
11.3 The Natural Virtues and Vices of Nervous Systems.
11.4 When Humankind versus Nature.
11.5 Our Right to Survive.
11.6 Our Unique Feelings of Kinship with Other Species.
11.7 A Code.
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Biography
Jeffrey E. Foss, PhD, is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Victoria, Canada. Dr. Foss has investigated science, consciousness, and the human mind in numerous journal articles, and his current research concerns philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, and environmental philosophy.
