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Argues that the environmental crisis is symptomatic of much deeper crises in modern civilization.
In this sequel to For Love of Matter: A Contemporary Panpsychism, also published by SUNY Press, Freya Mathews argues that replacing the materialist premise of modern civilization with a panpsychist one transforms the entire fabric of culture in profound ways. She claims that the environmental crisis is a symptom of deeper issues facing modern civilization arising from the loss of the very meaning of culture. To come to grips with this crisis requires a change in the metaphysical premise of modernity deeper than any as yet envisaged even by the radical ecology movement. This is a change with profound implications for the full range of existential questions and not merely for questions regarding our relationship with "nature."
“…recalls the writings of John Muir and Annie Dillard in celebrating the beauty and deep meaning of the world.” — Environmental Ethics
“Reinhabiting Reality offers a series of wonderful tales about the sanity that lies in the emplaced acceptance of imperfection, inadequacy, incompleteness, and danger that makes matter cohere into a world … Let this be an invitation to dialogue … within those radical ecology movements that have, temporarily, lost their way.” — Organization and Environment
“…an eclectic combination of philosophical analysis, personal memoirs, journal entries and travel stories … [It] must be commended for its novelty and clarity.” — Dialogue
“…Freya Mathews … offers an expanded horizon of understanding and much-needed inspiration in what appear to be exceedingly bleak and increasingly calamitous times.” — Australian Humanities Review
"There is probably no other topic in environmental thinking that is more important. The attempt to uncover both the origins of our misplaced environmental sentiments while offering a shining alternative is crucial for clear environmental thinking. The writing is crisp and clear, the argumentation is sound, and the content is brilliantly provocative." — Michael P. Nelson, coauthor of American Indian Environmental Ethics: An Ojibwa Case Study
"Mathews is a first rate thinker thinking the original thoughts we need to look at culture critically in the face of human and ecological disasters. The author's ideas of being native, of becoming votary, of this kind of engagement in history and technology, attentiveness, grace, living locally, and wisdom are important insights that are well expressed. The reader feels included on a journey where these insights are occurring naturally and being evidenced before one's eyes." — Glen A. Mazis, author of Earthbodies: Rediscovering Our Planetary Senses
Freya Mathews is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at La Trobe University, Australia. She is the editor of Ecology and Democracy and the author of The Ecological Self.
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