The Ecological Self - Softcover

Matthews, Freya

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0415107970 ISBN 13: 9780415107976

Publisher: Routledge, 1994

Synopsis

An examination of the metaphysical foundation of ecological ethics. The author offers an inspiring vision of the spiritual implications of ecology, which leads to a deepening of our conception of conservation.

About this title

Review

This is perhaps the most sophisticated account of the ecological self that we yet have in print. It is a welcome addition to the growing literature in environmental ethics, especially for Mathews' sustained argument that places the intuition of interconnectedness on a solid metaphysical grounding. -- Holmes Rolston III, Colorado State University CHOICE The complexity of Mathews's argument encompasses discussions of cosmology, physics, epistemology, ethics, and the history of philosophy and science. Despite such breadth, Mathews's thesis of 'ecocosm' is clearly formulated and serves as an adequate theoretical base for many popular environmental ethics. CHOICE The complexity of Mathews's argument encompasses discussions of cosmology, physics, epistemology, ethics, and the history of philosophy and science. Despite such breadth, Mathews's thesis of 'ecocosm' is clearly formulated and serves as an adequate theoretical base for many popular environmental ethics. CHOICE This is perhaps the most sophisticated account of the ecological self that we yet have in print. It is a welcome addition to the growing literature in environmental ethics, especially for Mathews' sustained argument that places the intuition of interconnectedness on a solid metaphysical grounding. -- Holmes Rolston III, Colorado State University CHOICE

Synopsis

The environmental philosophy that has grown out of the ecological movement has often been accused of providing no rational arguments for the holistic concepts it embraces. 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 is connected with everything else. The Ecological Self considers and rejects the dominant atomistic metaphysics implicit in Newtonian physics. By drawing on Einsteinian cosmology, modern systems theory and the philosophy of Spinoza, Freya Mathews is able to elaborate a new metaphysics of interconnectedness'. The normative implications of this new metaphysics for our conceptions of Nature and the self are fully realised in this provocative study. The book will be of particular interest to all those who study environmental philosophy, as well as those keen to know how such traditional disciplines as physics and metaphysics can throw light on the areas of the ecological movement.

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0415107970
• ISBN 13: 9780415107976
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 204