ecology

Mary Midgley explores if there is a necessary clash between concern for animals and concern for the environment as a whole.

Michael Levine discusses pantheism in relation to ecology in the context of the search for the metaphysical and ethical foundations for an ethological ethic.

Shrader-Frechette and McCoy use examples related to preservation versus development, hunting versus animal rights, and controversies over pest control, to show that, because ecology is conceptually and theoretically underdetermined, environmental values often influence the practice of ecological science.

Anthony M. Friend on Ecological Economics—a new synthesis in which the traditional virtue of thrift is justified using modern ideas from systems theory and thermodynamics.

Arne Naess discusses the distinction made by Kant between “moral” and “beautiful” actions in relation to efforts to counteract the current ecological crisis.

Martinez-Alier discusses issues relating to the concept of “sustainable development” as used by the Brundtland Commission.

Andrew Brennan discusses the complexity of environmental literacy, questioning the role of discipline-based education.

Eric Katz examines and compares the ontological and axiological character of artefacts—human creations—with nonhuman natural entities.

Robin Attfield presents and appraises Richard Sylvan’s trenchant critique of Deep Ecology and Warwick Fox’s illuminating reinterpretation and defence. A position intermediate between Deep Ecology and anthropocentrism is advocated, which has been called by Wayne Sumner “middle-depth environmentalism—a kind of continental shelf between the shallow and deep extremes.”

In The Next Industrial Revolution, architect Bill McDonough and chemist Michael Braungart bring together ecology and human design.