|
Erazim
Kohák
|
|
|
 The Green Halo : A
Bird's-Eye View of Ecological Ethics by Erazim
Kohák, Laura Smith, Charles Elliott
In The Green Halo Kohák
presents a wide range of conflicting views and strategies in ecological
ethics, including many with which he disagrees. Kohákbegins
by sketching the problematic relation of humankind to the rest of the
natural world, including other animals. He then outlines various ways of
conceiving of nature and its value, discussing the views of, among
others, Al Gore, John Muir, Albert Schweitzer, Paul Taylor, Aldo
Leopold, and Garrett Hardin. Kohák
concludes by discussing different approaches to the ecological crisis,
including depth ecology, ecofeminism, the GAIA hypothesis, and
sociobiology.
An accessible introduction to the vast field of
contemporary ecological thought, The Green Halo will provide a basic
education in environmental philosophy and an understanding of the most
important problem facing humankind in the coming century: How can we
live on this Earth in a way that we do not destroy our own preconditions
for existence?
Here is perhaps the most remarkable of the several introductions to
environmental ethics available in a growing literature-remarkable both
for the unusual career of its author and for the multi-dimensional
nature of the work. [Kohák] is able to combine theory and practice most
effectively. On every page he joins multiple tensions in the field,
often finding complementary insights: the contemporary and the
historical, facts and values, the is and the ought, reason and emotion,
the real and the ideal, ethics and metaphysics, the subjective and the
objective. . . I am privileged to endorse this work. -- Holmes
Rolston III, author of Philosophy
Gone Wild
The Green Halo can be read at many levels. It is enjoyable reading and
can serve as an introduction for those who know little or nothing about environmental
philosophy. At the same time, it makes a new contribution to the field,
both at the movement and mainstream levels. Because Kohk is equally
knowledgeable about environmental ethics in North America and his native
country, the Czech Republic, he provides insight and perspectives not
available from any other philosopher. The book is likly to become a
classic in the field. -- Eugene C. Hargrove, author of Foundations
of Environmental Ethics
 Click
here to learn more about this book
Click
here for more Kohák Books
Click
here for Ecological Philosophy Books
|
Toward an Agathocentric Ecology
Erazim KOHÁK, Prof., PhDr., DrSc.,
Charles University, Prague, Czechoslovakia,
and Boston University, Mass., USA
Excerpt:
I should like to submit to you a
simple, basic thesis--that what we are accustomed to calling the
"ecological crisis" is not a product of a conflict between
human needs and the needs of nature but of a flawed perception of what
our needs in truth are. It is, I believe, a crisis of our humanity
rather than one of nature or technology, and so requires not only
technological but also humanistic answers.
In saying that, I do not in the least
mean to question the crucial and urgent ecological importance of
technology. It seems to me beyond question that we need urgently to
address the question of the most effective use of raw materials, of the
most effective means of conservation and recycling as well as of
environmentally friendly ways of purifying and disposing of our waste.
However, noble as such efforts are, I
believe they will prove futile if the overall orientation of our
civilization bears within it the destructive contradiction of infinite
expansion and finite resources. Thus it seems to me no less important
for those charged with caring for humankind's long-range dwelling on
this earth to raise the question of our goals--what is really important
for us as humans, what is the aim of our civilization and what is our
place in the economy of nature. Or, in time honoured philosophical
terminology, I believe we need also to raise the question of what is the
place of humans in the cosmos...
|
|
Boston University Philosophy Department
|
 |
|
