Thinking Through the Environment: A Reader - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0415211727 ISBN 13: 9780415211727

Publisher: Routledge, 1999

Synopsis

This reader brings together material from ecological thought, environmental policy, environmental philosophy, social and political thought, historical sociology and cultural studies. The extracts tell the story of the way the natural environment has been understood in the modern world and how this has recently been questioned as contemporary societies are seen as characterised by uncertainty and complexity.
The literature guides the reader through the conventiaonal grounds for thinking about rights and obligations in relation to future generations, non-human animals and the biotic commununities, bringing each into question. This then leads into a critical examination of social and political theories and their capacity for drawing on ecological thought. Each of the seven sections of readings is introduced by the editor who locates the set of readings within the specific themes and issues at the heart of each section.
This broad-reaching and thought-provoking set of readings stresses the diversity of response to environmental problems both within and between anthropocentric and ecocentric approaches and will encourage the reader to examine how they are manifested in the areas of environmental ethics, policy analysis and social and political theory.

About this title

About the Author:

Mark Smith is lecturer in Social Sciences at the Open University.

Review:

"Judging by its quality and comprehensiveness, students in the program are getting their money's worth...strong selections, a nice mix of historical description and contemporary analysis, and a full discussion of the potential political ramifications of enviormentalism." "Philosophy in Review Vol. 20 ."

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0415211727
• ISBN 13: 9780415211727
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 448
• Editor: Smith Mark J.