Environmental Culture: The Ecological Crisis of Reason
Author(s): Val Plumwood (Author)
Publisher: Routledge
Publication Date: December 20, 2001
Edition: 1st
Language: English
Print length: 300 pages
ISBN-10: 0415178789
ISBN-13: 9780415178785
Book Description
A much-needed account of what has gone wrong in our thinking about the environment. Val Plumwood argues that we need to see nature as an end itself, rather than an instrument to get what we want.
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Environmental Culture: The Ecological Crisis of Reason is a frontal attack on the irrational assumptions that drive Western society’s progress toward ecological catastrophe. Val Plumwood maintains that “the dominant forms of reason–economic, political, scientific, and ethical/prudential–are failing us because they are subject to a systematic pattern of distortions and illusions,” distortions that are blind to ecological value. Plumwood aims to expose the conjurers’ trick that has gotten us into our predicament. With aplomb and precision, she traces the historical and cultural roots of our reasons for dominating nature.
Environmental Culture is the kind of rigorous philosophical analysis that will fortify the intellectual body of environmentalism. Unfortunately, her prose occasionally lapses into postmodernese, which, for many readers, will obscure her otherwise careful thought. On the other hand, Plumwood’s impressive familiarity with philosophy, political theory, and ecology makes her a sophisticated and captivating thinker. And she writes with a sense of urgency that is appropriate for the large-scale ecological destruction being wrought by our current systems. Ultimately, she recommends a new rationality and ethic that can restore the world, one based on fundamental shifts in our thinking, such as expanding our ethics to include other species, and developing a place-based spirituality. Plumwood’s prescriptions may be harder to swallow than her compelling critique of our failure of reason, but they point the way toward a world healed of its ecological crisis. –Eric de Place
Review
‘It will … stand as a key, thoughtful work on the ecological crisis … an excellent choice for a graduate seminar on environmental thought … rich and provocative.’ – Environmental Politics
‘This text is an important development of Plumwood’s earlier works underlining the dualistic separation of humanity from nature as a key factor in our collective lack of enviromental ethics … a nuanced and convincing analysis.’
‘… this is an excellent book, which I would wholeheartedly recommend to anyone interested in environmental debate, political philosophy and feminist analysis.’ – Susan Board, Open University, UK
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