Nature Ethics: An Ecofeminist Perspective [Paperback]

In her recent book, "Nature Ethics," philosopher Marti Kheel activates my sympathy with "other than human" individuals. Like Chief Seattle spoke, animals are our sisters and brothers. Kheel examines the holist nature philosophers prevalent in the field of environmental ethics. After explaining their contributions, she critiques their platforms including hyper-masculinity, ecosystems, ethics, and Deep Ecology. She consistently uncovers a focus on the abstract or universal "whole" embodied in generic concepts like "species" and "ecosystems," rather than a concern for particular individuals like the deer fleeing the hunter's bullet, or a doomed cow interred in a slaughterhouse. After defining the characteristic thought in the literature, Kheel disseminates the dominant zeitgesit of ecofeminism. I wrote a paper on ecofemnism and Kheel's book covers the field. She explains the "ethics of care" and applies it to care for particular others within nature, such as the domesticated animals raised for food and research. She describes "allopathic ethics." For instance, modern medicine meets a health challenge with battle, to radiate and poison the cancer tumor. ALternative medicine restores the strength of the person by reducing what makes them sick in the first place therefore restoring innate balance. To understand why humans devalue nature, Kheel researches the psycho-social underpinnings of gender development.The book ends with the stories of "other-than human" individuals such as the pig profiled in the movie "Babe" or the actual story of "Emily the cow" who in 1994 escaped a slaughterhouse in Boston. Kheel validates emotions and motivates people to refrain from killing by adopting a vegan lifestyle in response to animal suffering. As a lacto-ovo vegetarian, I admire Kheel's commitment and her invitation to join an ethics of care for particular individuals as exemplified in her vegan ecofeminist philosophy. I highly recommend this book as a great review of ecofeminism and ecological philosophy. Kheel has been writing about this subject in journals and books for many years and is widely cited in the literature.

As an animal behaviorist, I find that one of the most rewarding and challenging aspects of my work is telling animals' stories. Telling the stories of nature and telling the stories of animals per se share many of the same inherent challenges and duties. When we tell our own stories, we have a duty to self and perhaps a duty to our audience, when there is one. When we tell stories that are not our own, we also have a duty to the other parties involved - especially when they cannot or do not take part in the telling.

In Nature ethics: An ecofeminist perspective Marti Kheel does a beautiful job of examining how prominent ethicists have framed nature - and thus how they tell the stories of nature (and describe our ethical responsibilities to nature). She finds many of the traditional approaches unsatisfactory and suggests a different approach, one of holistic ecofeminist philosophy that resonates with me:

"It is an invitation to dissolve the dualistic thinking that separates reason from emotion, the conscious from the unconscious, the 'domestic' from the 'wild,' and animal advocacy from nature ethics. It welcomes larger scientific stories of evolutionary and ecological processes*, but never loses sight of the individual beings who exist within these larger narratives. Ecofeminist philosophy never transcends or denies our capacity for empathy and care, our most important human connection with the natural world."

*I'd add ethological and perhaps even ethnographic here, too.

A timely and important examination of nature ethics that is sure to spark important thought and reflection. Highly recommended.

In this book, Marti Kheel calls into question the dominant utilitarian ethic in nature philosophy which regards the individual as expendable for the sake of the species. Ultimately, she validates the importance of subjective experience and emotion for ethical decision-making, challenging the masculinist orientations of previous nature philosophers.

This book is an important contribution to the work of bridging movements such as environmentalism, feminism, and animal rights, while raising questions and paving the way to implementing policy and measures to do so.

This is an essential read for anyone interested in the above topics.