Environmental Philosophy: From Animal Rights to Radical Ecology [Paperback]

Edited by leading experts in contemporary environmental philosophy, this anthology features the best available selections that cover the full range of positions within this rapidly developing field. Divided into four sections that delve into the vast issues of contemporary Eco-philosophy, the Fourth Edition now includes a section on Continental Environmental Philosophy that explores current topics such as the social construction of nature, and eco-phenomenology. Each section is introduced and edited by a leading philosopher in the field. For professionals with a career within the environmental field including law, politics, conservation, geography, and biology.

The fourth edition of our anthology has undergone more revisions than any previous edition. We have added a new section which examines how continental philosophy, including phenomenology and postmodern theory, shed light on the "nature" of nature. Irene Klaver, editor of the new section, has written an excellent introduction, and has included several essays representing the relatively new field of "ecophenomenology," which offers a method for encountering and appreciating natural phenomena in a relatively non-objectifying manner that allows novel aspects of things to manifest themselves. Karen J. Warren's significantly expanded section now bears the title "Ecofeminism and Social Justice." Along with a fine new introduction, her selections help the reader to see that social action without theory is blind, but theory without social action is empty. Authors new to our anthology include Greta Gaard, Lori Gruen, Chris Cuomo, Mary Mellor, and Noel Sturgeon. For his Political Ecology section, John Clark has written an insightful new introduction. He has also added works by three authors, Ernest Partridge, David Watson, and Michael E. Zimmerman, to replace some of the essays from the previous edition. J. Baird Callicott has modified the introduction to his section, but has otherwise allowed the contents to remain the same.

My decision to include the new section required that I omit the Deep Ecology section, which George Sessions edited for the first three editions. This was the most difficult decision that I have had to make as general editor of this anthology. All the present editors of this anthology express their thanks to Sessions, emeritus professor at Sierra College, for his many contributions not only to the first three editions of this anthology, but also to the field of environmental philosophy. For years, we corresponded regularly about a wide range of topics, especially the emerging movement called deep ecology. I hiked and camped with Sessions in Yosemite, where he was well known for his first ascents, and in the Colorado Rockies. His influential newsletter, Ecophilosophy, which he published and distributed independently in the late 1970s and early 1980s, informed academics and activists about issues in and bibliography pertaining to environmental philosophy. Sessions often collaborated with the leading deep ecology theorist, Arne Naess, with whom he composed the "eight point deep ecology platform" in 1984. For his friendship, for his excellent editorial work, and most importantly for his efforts in founding environmental philosophy, I am deeply grateful.

The subtitle of this anthology, "From Animal Rights to Radical Ecology," originally reflected the fact that it included sections on both Ecofeminism and Deep Ecology. The title retains its validity, however, because several essays in the anthology offer radical criticism of mainstream attitudes toward nature and humanity's relation to it.

I thank my associate editors for working so hard, sometimes in the face of difficult circumstances, to prepare their sections for the fourth edition. We would also like to thank the reviewers, Chris Cuomo, University of Cincinnati; Philip Cafaro, Colorado State University; and Kirke Wolfe, Portland State University. On behalf of all the editors, I thank Ross Miller, Carla Worner, Wendy Yurash, and Patty Donovan for their support in seeing the anthology through the publication process.