Environmental Philosophy: From Animal Rights to Radical Ecology

by Michael E. Zimmerman, J. Baird Callicott, John Clark

Edited by leading experts in contemporary environmental philosophy, this anthology features the best available selections that cover the full range of positions within this rapidly developing field. Divided into four sections that delve into the vast issues of contemporary Eco-philosophy, the Fourth Edition now includes a section on Continental Environmental Philosophy that explores current topics such as the social construction of nature, and eco-phenomenology. Each section is introduced and edited by a leading philosopher in the field. For professionals with a career within the environmental field including law, politics, conservation, geography, and biology.

Genres: Philosophy, Environment, Nature, Nonfiction, Ecology

512 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1992

Reviews

[delievi · Rating 5 out of 5]

after two years, it is finally done. veeeery gooood anthology, a definite rec

[Lucas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Used this as a stepping stone into contemporary non-animal rights/moral considerability. Super intriguing topic with a great selection of papers. I didn’t read all of them, but the ones I did were great.

[Russell Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book--or, rather, read selected essays out of it; many of the essay in this anthology I've read before--in order to find material for a class I'm teaching in the fall. It provided me with some excellent resources insofar as the ideological alignments--or dis-alignments--between environmentalism and other bodies of thought (free-market libertarianism, traditional conservatism, progressive liberalism, socialism and anarchism, etc.) are concerned. I was a little frustrated that this edition of the book lacked some important pieces that I had to hunt down elsewhere, but that's the way it is with anthologies; with every edition, with editors always looking to distinguish (and thus require purchase) of this book rather than the previous version, you're going to see new stuff added and the stuff that you were looking for dropped out. All and all, though, this is a fine academic introduction and survey of the range of ideas out there, dated though much of the material may be.

[Budijanto Chandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

great

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A PHILOSOPHICAL EXPLORATION OF MANY "ANIMAL RIGHTS" AND ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES,

This 1993 collection (it has been revised three times since this edition) contains essays from persons including Peter Singer, Aldo Leopold, Thomas Berry, Arne Naess, Murray Bookchin, etc.

One essayist notes, "As our knowledge of living things increases, as we come to a deeper understanding of their life cycles, their interactions with other organisms, and the manifold ways in which they adjust to the environment, we become more fully aware of how each of them is carrying out its biological functions according to the laws of its species-specific nature... our increasing knowledge and understanding also develop in us a sharpened awareness of the uniqueness of each individual organism." (Pg. 73)

One writer notes, "a difficulty for those who argue that animals have rights or that we have obligations to them created simply by their capacity to suffer. If the suffering of animals creates a human obligation to mitigate it, it there not as much obligation to prevent a cat from killing a mouse as to prevent a hunter from killing a deer?" (Pg. 88) One philosopher argues, "While there can be ethics about sentient animals, after that perhaps ethics is over. Respect for life ends somewhere in zoology; it is not part of botany. No consciousness, no conscience. Without sentience, ethics is nonsense." (Pg. 141)

Arne Naess tells an interviewer, "The essence of deep ecology... is to ask deeper questions. The adjective 'deep' stresses that we ask why and how, where others do not." (Pg. 183)

This is a unique, thought-provoking, and fascinating consideration of these issues.

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I only managed to work through maybe half of this, because it's pretty hefty, but from what I saw it seems like a pretty amazing and thorough introduction to the main work being done in environmental philosophy.

[nimrodiel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for my Intro to Philosophy class. There are some really thought provoking essays in this edition of the book. I wish they had kept the deep ecology section that had been in the third edition of the book however. I wonder why they decided to trim those essays out.