Overview
- First to provide a comprehensive philosophical analysis of the science of ecology
- Contextualizes scientific ecology in the history of the Western intellectual tradition
- Draws concrete normative conclusions for public policy on environmental issues?
Part of the book series: Studies in Global Justice (JUST, volume 19)
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Table of contents (10 chapters)
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Front Matter
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The History of Ecology
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Front Matter
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The Metaphysics of Ecology
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Front Matter
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The Epistemology of Ecology
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Front Matter
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The Normativity of Ecology
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Front Matter
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Keywords
- Arcadianism
- Beauty in Nature
- Ecology and Global Justice
- Environmental Justice
- Environmental Science and Environmental Justice
- Ethics for Environmental Justice
- Great Chain of Being
- History of Ecological Thinking
- Industrial Political Economy
- Justice and the Environment
- Metaphysics of Ecology
- Nature as Machine
- Normative Ecology
- Ontological Interconnectedness
- Organisms as Machines
- Philosophy and Ecology
- Political Economy and Ecology
- Scientific Ecology
- Teleonomy and Teleomaty
About this book
This is the first book to outline a basic philosophy of ecology using the standard categories of academic philosophy: metaphysics, axiology, epistemology, aesthetics, ethics, and political philosophy. The problems of global justice invariably involve ecological factors. Yet the science of ecology is itself imbued with philosophical questions. Therefore, studies in ecological justice, the sub-discipline of global justice that relates to the interaction of human and natural systems, should be preceded by the study of the philosophy of ecology. This book enables the reader to access a philosophy of ecology and shows how this philosophy is inherently normative and provides tools for securing ecological justice. The moral philosophy of ecology directly addresses the root cause of ecological and environmental injustice: the violation of fundamental human rights caused by the inequitable distribution of the benefits (economies) and costs (diseconomies) of industrialism. Philosophy of ecology thus has implications for human rights, pollution, poverty, unequal access to resources, sustainability, consumerism, land use, biodiversity, industrialization, energy policy, and other issues of social and global justice. This book offers an historical and interdisciplinary exegesis. The analysis is situated in the context of the Western intellectual tradition, and includes great thinkers in the history of ecological thinking in the West from the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities.
Keller asks the big questions and surveys answers with remarkable detail. Here is an insightful analysis of contemporary, classical, and ancient thought, alike in the ecological sciences, the humanities, and economics, the roots and fruits of our concepts of nature and of being in the world. Keller is unexcelled in bridging the is/ought gap, bridging nature and culture, and in celebrating the richness oflife, its pattern, process, and creativity on our wonderland Earth.
Holmes Rolston, III
University Distinguished Professor, Colorado State University
Author of A New Environmental Ethics: The Next Millennium for Life on Earth (2012)
Mentored by renowned ecologist Frank Golley and renowned philosopher Frederick Ferré, David Keller is well prepared to provide a deep history and a sweeping synthesis of the "idea of ecology"—including the metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical aspects of that idea, as well as the scientific.
J. Baird Callicott
University Distinguished Research Professor, University of North Texas
Author of Thinking Like a Planet: The Land Ethic and the Earth Ethic (2013)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
David R. Keller is deceased. He was Professor of Philosophy, University Professor of Environmental Studies, and Director Emeritus of the Center for the Study of Ethics at Utah Valley University.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Ecology and Justice—Citizenship in Biotic Communities
Authors: David R. Keller
Series Title: Studies in Global Justice
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11636-1
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Religion and Philosophy, Philosophy and Religion (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-11634-7Published: 10 April 2019
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-11636-1Published: 30 March 2019
Series ISSN: 1871-0409
Series E-ISSN: 1871-1456
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XX, 224
Number of Illustrations: 23 b/w illustrations, 2 illustrations in colour
Topics: Moral Philosophy, Social Justice, Equality and Human Rights, Environmental Philosophy, Philosophy of Nature, International Environmental Law, Environmental Law/Policy/Ecojustice