Description
Book SynopsisIs it possible to understand the idea of alienation from nature without recourse to excessive romanticism or mythologising? This book tackles this key question in environmental philosophy, examining it in light of different philosophical traditions. It will be of interest to scholars and advanced students of environmental philosophy and environmental studies.
Trade Review'Simon Hailwood argues powerfully that there is no single philosophical lens through which to view the complexities of the environmental crisis - much less evaluate and 'solve' them. He makes a compelling case for a pragmatic approach, arguing that alienation is an unavoidable - and even necessary - feature of our relation with nature. This 'reality check' is one of the most important contributions to environmental thinking and practice of recent years.' Andrew Dobson, Keele University
'Simon Hailwood has produced a philosophically sophisticated and very timely analysis of the current environmental crisis through the lens of the concept of alienation … It's a fine book and a valuable contribution to environmental philosophy.' Byron Williston, Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review
'The complexity comes in with Hailwood's painstaking attention to the intellectual heritage - recent and more historical - of deployments of alienation and estrangement in critiques of social life, as well as in the environmental context. And though environmental concerns motivate the book, and remain in the foreground throughout, Hailwood does a service for readers who, like me, are not well versed in the philosophical debates that focus on the richly normative conceptions of personhood associated with (forgive the simplification) the 'Continental tradition'.' Zev Trachtenberg, Environmental Values
Table of Contents1. Introduction; 2. Alienations and natures; 3. Pragmatists and sea squirts; 4. Landscape; 5. Nonhuman nature: estrangement; 6. Nonhuman nature: alienation; 7. Estrangement from the natural world; 8. Entailments and entanglements; 9. Concluding remarks; References; Index.
