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Author: Lucy Weir
Publisher:
ISBN: 9783030943936
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
This book critically explores philosophy as a practice. Philosophy is both a process of re-examining the grounds on which our beliefs and attitudes about the world are based, and in its older role, is the deliberation on how to live. The context for this exploration is the ecological emergency: climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, and all the other impacts of the Anthropocene, and also our social and political reactions to these. The book examines, from a multiplicity of perspectives, how we see ourselves, and the more-than-human world, and how these views influence our capacity to respond to the urgent and critical issues that we now face. The central argument of the book is that philosophy is both a way of seeing what is going on, and a practical engagement with that understanding. Dr Lucy Weir, the editor of this collection, was mentored by the late Emeritus Professor Barbara Harrell-Bond (founder of The Refugee Studies Programme, Oxford University). Harrell-Bond emphasised the value and importance of a multidisciplinary approach, combining scholarship, policy and practice. This work echoes those aims. Weir's publications include "Fleeing Vesuvius" (New Society, 2011, contributing author) and "Love is Green: compassion as responsibility in the ecological emergency" (Vernon Press, 2019). The biographies of the distinguished list of contributors is included in the text.
Author: Lucy Weir
Publisher:
ISBN: 9783030943936
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Get Book Here
Book Description
This book critically explores philosophy as a practice. Philosophy is both a process of re-examining the grounds on which our beliefs and attitudes about the world are based, and in its older role, is the deliberation on how to live. The context for this exploration is the ecological emergency: climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, and all the other impacts of the Anthropocene, and also our social and political reactions to these. The book examines, from a multiplicity of perspectives, how we see ourselves, and the more-than-human world, and how these views influence our capacity to respond to the urgent and critical issues that we now face. The central argument of the book is that philosophy is both a way of seeing what is going on, and a practical engagement with that understanding. Dr Lucy Weir, the editor of this collection, was mentored by the late Emeritus Professor Barbara Harrell-Bond (founder of The Refugee Studies Programme, Oxford University). Harrell-Bond emphasised the value and importance of a multidisciplinary approach, combining scholarship, policy and practice. This work echoes those aims. Weir's publications include "Fleeing Vesuvius" (New Society, 2011, contributing author) and "Love is Green: compassion as responsibility in the ecological emergency" (Vernon Press, 2019). The biographies of the distinguished list of contributors is included in the text.
Author: Lucy Weir
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030943917
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 277
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Book Description
This book argues that philosophy is as practical as plumbing and what we need right now is what philosophers can offer as philosophers to help us all, our species, and beyond, through this ecological emergency, this climate change, this anthropocene. This book is about the meaning and purpose of philosophy as a way of, a practice of, responding to the ecological emergency, which includes climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, habitat destruction, and all the associated impacts that fragment, and threaten to create collapse, among the systems that created and sustain us. There are the related economic and social impacts, the fragmentation of communities and political ideologies through attitude polarisation, and the increasing threats to systems by those who seek to promote further exploitation at the expense of attempts to regain some system of cooperation and an attitude of compassion which is at the heart of our survival strategies as a species. Philosophy has always sought to address questions related both to our place in the universe, and to how to live, given our understanding of our place. Those of us committed to a philosophical life have used a range of metaphors and narratives to enlighten, and to exhort to action, those who would seek to understand what to do, how, and why. Philosophy has played a key role in helping us as a species to respond to the ecological emergency. What, then, is the practice of philosophy, given that we’re in an ecological emergency? This question is the thread, and it forms the framework for the dialogue that runs through the book.
Author: Lucy Weir
Publisher: Vernon Press
ISBN: 1622738063
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 243
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Book Description
This book links three themes, non-dualistic agency, ‘the good’ of systems, and compassionate attunement, and relates them to the ecological emergency. The author begins by examining how we currently understand our ability to choose what we do, our agency and conclude that this is dualistic: we think of an action to do, and then we physically act. Yet an understanding that we are enmeshed in context means our capacity to act freely dissolves in the mesh. We evolved capacities for consciousness and awareness, capacities that allow us to realise that we are here, now but that do not inevitably imply choice. Our capacity for ‘realisation’ gives us the ability to elicit an emotional response. When we understand our enmeshment, we can attune to a deep compassion for ourselves and indeed for all systems unfolding through time. Compassionate attunement allows a different set of options for action to become available to us. This then shifts how we respond to ourselves, our human relationships and to the ecological emergency we are currently embroiled in. This work is inspired by the great Kamakura Zen Master Eihei Dōgen. The book’s contribution is to extend and link the notion of practice-realisation with the literature on evolutionary biology and entropy maximisation which allows us to speak of ‘the good’ of systems. Systems unfold as ‘good’ for us when biodiversity maximisation occurs. By considering the ecological emergency in light of compassionate attunement, we open ourselves to a new array of possibilities for action. Some of these the author outlines in the conclusion, relating them to existing literature on compassionate achievement and compassionate communication, to show how our this practice shifts our relationship to ourselves, to one another, and to the ecological emergency, thus changing the course of human history.
Author: Sam Mickey
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1498517676
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 261
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Book Description
The philosophy of existentialism is undergoing an ecological renewal, as global warming, mass extinction, and other signs of the planetary scale of human actions are making it glaringly apparent that existence is always ecological coexistence. One of the most urgent problems in the current ecological emergency is that humans cannot bear to face the emergency. Its earth-shattering implications are ignored in favor of more solutions, fixes, and sustainability transitions. Solutions cannot solve much when they cannot face what it means to be human amidst unprecedented uncertainty and intimate interconnectedness. Attention to such uncertainty and interconnectedness is what "ecological existentialism" (Deborah Bird Rose) or "coexistentialism" (Timothy Morton) is all about. This book follows Rose, Morton, and many others (e.g., Jean-Luc Nancy, Peter Sloterdijk, and Luce Irigaray) who are currently taking up the styles of thinking conveyed in existentialism, renewing existentialist affirmations of experience, paradox, uncertainty, and ambiguity, and extending existentialism beyond humans to include attention to the uniqueness and strangeness of all beings—all humans and nonhumans woven into ecological coexistence. Along the way, coexistentialism finds productive alliances and tensions amidst many areas of inquiry, including ecocriticism, ecological humanities, object-oriented ontology, feminism, phenomenology, deconstruction, new materialism, and more. This is a book for anyone who seeks to refute cynicism and loneliness and affirm coexistence.
Author: Ronald Barnett
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350450898
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 387
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Book Description
The ecological university takes its interconnectedness with the world seriously. This is challenging, for the world is in difficulty and is shot through with antagonism. The university is partly culpable for those difficulties and so has responsibilities towards the world. Realizing the Ecological University spells out this thesis by charting the university's entanglements with eight ecosystems – knowledge, learning, persons, social institutions, culture, the economy, the polity and nature. The book identifies ways in which each of the eight ecosystems is impaired and points to possibilities through which universities can help in repairing those ecosystems. This book also sets out broad principles in helping to realize the ecological university in each of the eight ecosystems. Wearing his scholarship lightly, Ronald Barnett draws widely from philosophy, social theory, comparative higher education and ethics, and advances a particular form of the philosophy of higher education, at once realist, societal, critical, worldly and Earthly. Written with wit and lots of examples – actual and fictional – the text has a compelling vibrancy, made manifest in its concluding Manifesto.
Author: Paco Calvo
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393881091
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 199
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Book Description
“Weaves science and history into an absorbing exploration of the many ways that plants rise to the challenge of living.” —Merlin Sheldrake, author of Entangled Life An astonishing window into the inner world of plants, and the cutting-edge science in plant intelligence. Decades of research document plants’ impressive abilities: they communicate with each other, manipulate other species, and move in sophisticated ways. Lesser known, however, is that although plants may not have brains, their internal workings reveal a system not unlike the neuronal networks running through our own bodies. They can learn and remember, possessing an intelligence that allows them to behave in flexible, forward-looking, and goal-directed ways. In Planta Sapiens, Paco Calvo, a leading figure in the philosophy of plant signaling and behavior, offers an entirely new perspective on plants’ worlds, showing for the first time how we can use tools developed to study animal cognition in a quest to understand plant intelligence. Plants learn from experience: wild strawberries can be taught to link light intensity with nutrient levels in the soil, and flowers can time pollen production to pollinator visits. Plants have social intelligence, releasing chemicals from their roots and leaves to speak to and identify one another. They make decisions about where to invest their growth, judging risk based on the resources available. Their individual preferences vary, too—plants have personalities. Calvo also illuminates how plants inspire technological advancements, from robotics to AI. Most importantly, he demonstrates that plants are not objects: they have their own agency. If we recognize plants as actors alongside us in the climate crisis—rather than seeing them simply as resources for carbon capture and food production—plants may just be able to help us tackle our most urgent problems.
Author: Ruth Irwin
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1786615134
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 349
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Book Description
The life of our planet has reached a critical stage. Its survival depends on our ability to rethink our relationship with ecology, and create a new economy which does not rely on economic growth, and supports care and sustainability for our planet. This book examines histories of alternative economic theories to advocate for different ways of economic distribution that do not keep producing emissions. It calls into question our philosophy of time, our relationship with ecology, and the original creation of debt, interest, and ways of avoiding exponential economic growth. The author uses ideas from Maori philosophy, Mesopotamian finance and quantum mechanics to set out a new basis for economic theory which is no longer set up on greedy individualism, or a hierarchical trickle-down effect, or even overall economic growth. Instead, this new materialist philosophy emphasises the integration of humanity and the ecosystem, and sets out to create a philosophy of economics built on interconnection and care.
Author: Candice Howarth
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030797392
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 155
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Book Description
This open access book brings together a collection of cutting-edge insights into how action can and is already being taken against climate change at multiple levels of our societies, amidst growing calls for transformative and inclusive climate action. In an era of increasing recognition regarding climate and ecological breakdown, this book offers hope, inspiration and analyses for multi-level climate action, spanning varied communities, places, spaces, agents and disciplines, demonstrating how the energy and dynamism of local scales are a powerful resource in turning the tide. Interconnected yet conceptually distinct, the book’s three sections span multiple levels of analysis, interrogating diverse perspectives and practices inherent to the vivid tapestry of climate action emerging locally, nationally and internationally. Delivered in collaboration with the UK’s ‘Place-Based Climate Action Network’, chapters are drawn from a wide range of authors with varying backgrounds spread across academia, policy and practice.
Author: Janet Stanley
Publisher: Vernon Press
ISBN: 1648890105
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 319
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Book Description
In the context of climate change, world population growth and crashing ecological systems, wildfire is often a catastrophic and traumatic event. Its impact can include loss of life, life-changing injuries, long-term psychological stress; increases in domestic violence; destruction of properties, business and livestock; long-term housing insecurity; increased insurance premiums, fire-fighting, legal and health costs; as well as significant changes and species losses in the natural environment. In Australia, an average of 4,500 wildfires occur weekly. Yet how to prevent these wildfires, 85% of which are caused by human activities, has received extraordinarily little attention. The current approach to the prevention of arson can be summarised as small in scale, uncoordinated and rarely evaluated. ‘Feeling the heat: International perspectives on the prevention of wildfire ignition’ is the culmination of over a decade of research into wildfires and arson; taking an interdisciplinary approach to comprehensively understand the topic. This book reviews current international knowledge and presents new findings on political, spatial, psychological, socio-ecological and socio-economic risk factors. It argues that if we are to reverse the increasing occurrence and severity of wildfires, all prevention approaches must be utilised, broadening from heavy reliance on environmental modification. Such prevention measures range from the critical importance of reducing greenhouse gases to addressing the psychological and socio-economic drivers of arson. In particular, it calls for a coordinated and collaborative approach across sectors, including place-based, state and country coordination, as well as an international body. It will hold appeal for researchers and students from a range of disciplines and interests, government planners and policymakers, emergency services, counsellors and NGOs, and those in agriculture and forestry.
Author: Arthur M. Melzer
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022617512X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 472
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Book Description
“Shines a floodlight on a topic that has been cloaked in obscurity . . . a landmark work in both intellectual history and political theory” (The Wall Street Journal). Philosophical esotericism—the practice of communicating one’s unorthodox thoughts “between the lines”—was a common practice until the end of the eighteenth century. Despite its long and well-documented history, however, esotericism is often dismissed today as a rare occurrence. But by ignoring esotericism, we risk cutting ourselves off from a full understanding of Western philosophical thought. Walking readers through both an ancient (Plato) and a modern (Machiavelli) esoteric work, Arthur M. Melzer explains what esotericism is—and is not. It relies not on secret codes, but simply on a more intensive use of familiar rhetorical techniques like metaphor, irony, and insinuation. Melzer explores the various motives that led thinkers in different times and places to engage in this strange practice, while also exploring the motives that lead more recent thinkers not only to dislike and avoid this practice but to deny its very existence. In the book’s final section, “A Beginner’s Guide to Esoteric Reading,” Melzer turns to how we might once again cultivate the long-forgotten art of reading esoteric works. The first comprehensive, book-length study of the history and theoretical basis of philosophical esotericism, Philosophy Between the Lines is “a treasure-house of insight and learning. It is that rare thing: an eye-opening book . . . By making the world before Enlightenment appear as strange as it truly was, [Melzer] makes our world stranger than we think it is” (George Kateb, Professor of Politics, Emeritus, at Princeton University). “Brilliant, pellucid, and meticulously researched.” —City Journal
