Eco-Phenomenology

Back to the Earth Itself

Edited by Charles S. Brown & Ted Toadvine

Subjects: Environmental Philosophy
Series: SUNY series in Environmental Philosophy and Ethics
Paperback : 9780791456224, 278 pages, January 2003
Hardcover : 9780791456217, 278 pages, January 2003

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Table of contents

Acknowledgments

Eco-Phenomenology: An Introduction
Charles S. Brown and Ted Toadvine

I. Ecological Philosophy and the Phenomenological Tradition

1. The Real and the Good: Phenomenology and the Possibility of an Axiological Rationality
Charles S. Brown

2. An Understanding Heart: Reason, Value, and Transcendental Phenomenology
Erazim Kohák

3. The Possibility of a Constitutive Phenomenology of the Environment
Lester Embree

4. Prolegomena to Any Future Phenomenological Ecology
John Llewelyn

5. Heidegger's Phenomenology and Contemporary Environmentalism
Michael E. Zimmerman

6. Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Merleau-Ponty: Some of their Contributions and Limitations for Environmentalism
Monika Langer

7. Back to Earth with Reflection and Ecology
Don E. Marietta, Jr.

II. New Directions in Eco-Phenomenology

8. The Primacy of Desire and Its Ecological Consequences
Ted Toadvine

9. Phenomenology on (the) Rocks
Irene J. Klaver

10. Natural Disasters
Christian Diehm

11. Taking a Glance at the Environment: Preliminary Thoughts on a Promising Topic
Edward S. Casey

12. What is Eco-Phenomenology?
David Wood

Notes on Contributors

Eco-Phenomenology Bibliography

Index

Explores how continental philosophy can inform environmental ethics.

Description

This groundbreaking collection explores the intersection of phenomenology with environmental philosophy. It examines the relevance of Husserl, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, and Levinas for thinking through the philosophical dilemmas raised by environmental issues, and then proposes new phenomenological approaches to the natural world. The contributors demonstrate phenomenology's need to engage in an ecological self-evaluation and to root out anthropomorphic assumptions embedded in its own methodology. Calling for a reexamination of beliefs central to the Western philosophical tradition, this book shifts previously marginalized environmental concerns to the forefront and blazes a trail for a new collaboration between phenomenologists and ecologically-minded theorists.

At Emporia State University, Charles S. Brown is Professor of Philosophy and Ted Toadvine is Assistant Professor of Philosophy.