Norman Wirzba
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195157161
- eISBN:
- 9780199835270
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195157168.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter charts the development of ecology as a science and then highlights the cultural and educational significance of this way of thinking. The career of Aldo Leopold is considered in order to ...
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This chapter charts the development of ecology as a science and then highlights the cultural and educational significance of this way of thinking. The career of Aldo Leopold is considered in order to show the transformation in thought necessary for a more robust environmentalism. The foundations are also laid for an ecological ethic, a garden aesthetic, and a conversation between religion and ecology around the topic of death.Less
This chapter charts the development of ecology as a science and then highlights the cultural and educational significance of this way of thinking. The career of Aldo Leopold is considered in order to show the transformation in thought necessary for a more robust environmentalism. The foundations are also laid for an ecological ethic, a garden aesthetic, and a conversation between religion and ecology around the topic of death.
Daniel P. Scheid
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199359431
- eISBN:
- 9780199359462
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199359431.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
The forces that imperil Earth threaten present, permanent, and dramatic changes for life on the planet. What is the moral vision required to understand Earth’s goodness and humanity’s place in it? ...
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The forces that imperil Earth threaten present, permanent, and dramatic changes for life on the planet. What is the moral vision required to understand Earth’s goodness and humanity’s place in it? This book argues that the cosmic common good provides a common ground for interreligious ecological ethics by affirming (1) an ethical non-anthropocentrism, in which humans are part of the greater whole of the cosmos; (2) both the instrumental and intrinsic value of nonhuman nature; and (3) an integral connection between the ends of religious practice and the pursuit of this common good. Part One begins with expanded and ecologically reoriented principles of Catholic social thought, leading to new norms such as the cosmic common good, creaturely dignity, Earth solidarity, and Earth rights. The doctrines of creation in Augustine and Aquinas root this theocentric vision in classical sources, while Thomas Berry’s interpretation of the evolutionary cosmic story provides a complementary cosmocentric framework. Part Two employs comparative theology to explore resonances of the cosmic common good in other traditions. Hindu dharmic ecology is theocentric but also introduces ātman (self) and an ethic of ahiṃsā (nonviolence), which reject ethical anthropocentrism. Buddhist interdependence and “no self” stretch the relationship between part and whole and offer a non-theistic and non-teleological cosmic common good. An American Indian worldview oriented around spatiality offers an ethic of balance with “all our relations” but also exposes histories of systemic violence toward indigenous peoples.Less
The forces that imperil Earth threaten present, permanent, and dramatic changes for life on the planet. What is the moral vision required to understand Earth’s goodness and humanity’s place in it? This book argues that the cosmic common good provides a common ground for interreligious ecological ethics by affirming (1) an ethical non-anthropocentrism, in which humans are part of the greater whole of the cosmos; (2) both the instrumental and intrinsic value of nonhuman nature; and (3) an integral connection between the ends of religious practice and the pursuit of this common good. Part One begins with expanded and ecologically reoriented principles of Catholic social thought, leading to new norms such as the cosmic common good, creaturely dignity, Earth solidarity, and Earth rights. The doctrines of creation in Augustine and Aquinas root this theocentric vision in classical sources, while Thomas Berry’s interpretation of the evolutionary cosmic story provides a complementary cosmocentric framework. Part Two employs comparative theology to explore resonances of the cosmic common good in other traditions. Hindu dharmic ecology is theocentric but also introduces ātman (self) and an ethic of ahiṃsā (nonviolence), which reject ethical anthropocentrism. Buddhist interdependence and “no self” stretch the relationship between part and whole and offer a non-theistic and non-teleological cosmic common good. An American Indian worldview oriented around spatiality offers an ethic of balance with “all our relations” but also exposes histories of systemic violence toward indigenous peoples.
Mick Smith
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816670284
- eISBN:
- 9781452947136
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816670284.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Environmental Politics
This chapter talks about “Good” as the original principle of political authority and as a sovereign limit on the exercise of politics. It discusses Plato’s dialogue Critias, which offers an account ...
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This chapter talks about “Good” as the original principle of political authority and as a sovereign limit on the exercise of politics. It discusses Plato’s dialogue Critias, which offers an account of the Golden Age where gods are described as shepherds that use persuasion rather than force to guide human flocks. In Critias, Plato implies that the gods steer the whole mortal fabric in a way more suitable to human intelligence and produce from the soil a race of good men, to which the gods taught the order of their polity. The chapter also addresses the questions of ecological ethics and politics and ecological sovereignty through readings of Plato’s works that emphasize critical possibilities of the sovereignty of the Good.Less
This chapter talks about “Good” as the original principle of political authority and as a sovereign limit on the exercise of politics. It discusses Plato’s dialogue Critias, which offers an account of the Golden Age where gods are described as shepherds that use persuasion rather than force to guide human flocks. In Critias, Plato implies that the gods steer the whole mortal fabric in a way more suitable to human intelligence and produce from the soil a race of good men, to which the gods taught the order of their polity. The chapter also addresses the questions of ecological ethics and politics and ecological sovereignty through readings of Plato’s works that emphasize critical possibilities of the sovereignty of the Good.
Daniel P. Scheid
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199359431
- eISBN:
- 9780199359462
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199359431.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
Before exploring the cosmic common good in non-Christian religious traditions, this chapter outlines the methodology of comparative theology, drawing primarily on the work of Francis X. Clooney, ...
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Before exploring the cosmic common good in non-Christian religious traditions, this chapter outlines the methodology of comparative theology, drawing primarily on the work of Francis X. Clooney, S.J., and James Fredericks. Comparative theology is a form of interreligious dialogue that is dialectical, with an interplay between traditions. More than a mere comparison of traditions, comparative theology is a thoroughly theological, constructive, and revisionist project, in which comparison is not tangential but is central to theologizing. Comparison requires a nuanced interpretation both of one’s own tradition and the other. Comparative theology represents the kind of interdependent, global conversation that the ecological crisis demands, so the chapter argues for a comparative ecological ethics in which theologians from various religious traditions dialogue with and learn from each other. The chapter concludes with his choice of interlocutors from Hindu, Buddhist, and American Indian traditions and the principles they have ecologically interpreted from their own traditions.Less
Before exploring the cosmic common good in non-Christian religious traditions, this chapter outlines the methodology of comparative theology, drawing primarily on the work of Francis X. Clooney, S.J., and James Fredericks. Comparative theology is a form of interreligious dialogue that is dialectical, with an interplay between traditions. More than a mere comparison of traditions, comparative theology is a thoroughly theological, constructive, and revisionist project, in which comparison is not tangential but is central to theologizing. Comparison requires a nuanced interpretation both of one’s own tradition and the other. Comparative theology represents the kind of interdependent, global conversation that the ecological crisis demands, so the chapter argues for a comparative ecological ethics in which theologians from various religious traditions dialogue with and learn from each other. The chapter concludes with his choice of interlocutors from Hindu, Buddhist, and American Indian traditions and the principles they have ecologically interpreted from their own traditions.
Jeffrey Bilbro
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780813176406
- eISBN:
- 9780813176437
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813176406.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
Over the past fifty years, Wendell Berry has been arguing that our most pressing ecological and cultural need is a renewed formal intelligence. Such an intelligence does not look for big, ...
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Over the past fifty years, Wendell Berry has been arguing that our most pressing ecological and cultural need is a renewed formal intelligence. Such an intelligence does not look for big, one-size-fits-all solutions. Rather, it discerns and fosters patterns of health. When W. H. Auden famously declared that “poetry makes nothing happen,” he was correct that poetry, like the other arts, doesn’t coerce matter in the way that a tractor or an oil rig or a bomb does. Yet poetry is “a way of happening,” its beauty shaping readers’ imaginations to better perceive and understand formal patterns. Such formative work fosters the deep, lasting change needed to cultivate a more sustainable culture and economy. In particular, Berry’s literary forms embody and cultivate virtues of renewal. Though our contemporary culture fears and shuns death, natural ecosystems provide a model in which death feeds new life and healthy human communities follow an analogous order. Cultures maintain such a sustainable order by practicing virtues of renewal, virtues that stand in sharp contrast to the techniques of control preferred by our industrial culture. Combining literary analysis with cultural criticism, this book argues that Berry’s literary forms shape his readers to desire and practice these virtues of renewal. Poetry can’t magically create a healthy economy, but Berry’s poetry, essays, and fiction cultivate the kind of imaginative, virtuous people who can, as he puts it, “practice resurrection.”Less
Over the past fifty years, Wendell Berry has been arguing that our most pressing ecological and cultural need is a renewed formal intelligence. Such an intelligence does not look for big, one-size-fits-all solutions. Rather, it discerns and fosters patterns of health. When W. H. Auden famously declared that “poetry makes nothing happen,” he was correct that poetry, like the other arts, doesn’t coerce matter in the way that a tractor or an oil rig or a bomb does. Yet poetry is “a way of happening,” its beauty shaping readers’ imaginations to better perceive and understand formal patterns. Such formative work fosters the deep, lasting change needed to cultivate a more sustainable culture and economy. In particular, Berry’s literary forms embody and cultivate virtues of renewal. Though our contemporary culture fears and shuns death, natural ecosystems provide a model in which death feeds new life and healthy human communities follow an analogous order. Cultures maintain such a sustainable order by practicing virtues of renewal, virtues that stand in sharp contrast to the techniques of control preferred by our industrial culture. Combining literary analysis with cultural criticism, this book argues that Berry’s literary forms shape his readers to desire and practice these virtues of renewal. Poetry can’t magically create a healthy economy, but Berry’s poetry, essays, and fiction cultivate the kind of imaginative, virtuous people who can, as he puts it, “practice resurrection.”
Mick Smith
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816670284
- eISBN:
- 9781452947136
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816670284.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, Environmental Politics
This chapter outlines the possibilities for rethinking and constituting ecological ethics and politics. It talks about legislative completeness, as the regulative counterpart to the global metastasis ...
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This chapter outlines the possibilities for rethinking and constituting ecological ethics and politics. It talks about legislative completeness, as the regulative counterpart to the global metastasis of free-market approaches that effectively reduce the world’s diversity to a common currency or a universal, abstract, monetary exchange value. The chapter concludes with a description of the currency of modernism and capitalism as a tangible indicator of the spread of biopolitics, and with an analysis of what “saving the natural world” mean.Less
This chapter outlines the possibilities for rethinking and constituting ecological ethics and politics. It talks about legislative completeness, as the regulative counterpart to the global metastasis of free-market approaches that effectively reduce the world’s diversity to a common currency or a universal, abstract, monetary exchange value. The chapter concludes with a description of the currency of modernism and capitalism as a tangible indicator of the spread of biopolitics, and with an analysis of what “saving the natural world” mean.
Andrew Stuhl
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780226416649
- eISBN:
- 9780226416786
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226416786.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
This chapter returns to contemporary media narratives about the Arctic to connect the colonial and environmental history of science with the present. It presents a brief history of conflict within ...
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This chapter returns to contemporary media narratives about the Arctic to connect the colonial and environmental history of science with the present. It presents a brief history of conflict within the Arctic Council since the mid 1990s. Whereas Inuit advocated community-based science that served the interests of northern residents, U.S. senior officials supported computer-based and remote research that answered theoretical or empirical questions posed by southern scientists. This conflict mirrors the narrative of the book as it hinges on differing interpretations of the relations among knowledge, nature, and power. The chapter then details how lessons from the Arctic’s colonial past can be applied in current environmental decision-making. It is argued that climate scientists and policy-makers must engage in participatory forums at regional levels to build trust and capacity to respond to rapid environmental change. Key to these actions will be a recommitment to principles that were first developed in the 1970s: ecological ethics, social justice, and awareness of the historical legacies present in the Arctic. Historians and concerned citizens must counter simplified ideas of the Arctic proliferating in the press to shift the focus of climate action from the circumpolar basin to the sites where most fossil fuels are burned.Less
This chapter returns to contemporary media narratives about the Arctic to connect the colonial and environmental history of science with the present. It presents a brief history of conflict within the Arctic Council since the mid 1990s. Whereas Inuit advocated community-based science that served the interests of northern residents, U.S. senior officials supported computer-based and remote research that answered theoretical or empirical questions posed by southern scientists. This conflict mirrors the narrative of the book as it hinges on differing interpretations of the relations among knowledge, nature, and power. The chapter then details how lessons from the Arctic’s colonial past can be applied in current environmental decision-making. It is argued that climate scientists and policy-makers must engage in participatory forums at regional levels to build trust and capacity to respond to rapid environmental change. Key to these actions will be a recommitment to principles that were first developed in the 1970s: ecological ethics, social justice, and awareness of the historical legacies present in the Arctic. Historians and concerned citizens must counter simplified ideas of the Arctic proliferating in the press to shift the focus of climate action from the circumpolar basin to the sites where most fossil fuels are burned.