Earth's Insights: A Multicultural Survey of Ecological Ethics from the Mediterranean Basin to the Australian Outback [Paperback]

J. Baird Callicott (Author), Tom Hayden (Foreword)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0520085604 | ISBN-13: 978-0520085602 | Publication Date: December 29, 1997

The environmental crisis is global in scope, yet contemporary environmental ethics is centered predominantly in Western philosophy and religion. Earth's Insights widens the scope of environmental ethics to include the ecological teachings embedded in non-Western worldviews. J. Baird Callicott ranges broadly, exploring the sacred texts of Islam, Hinduism, Jainism, Taoism, Confucianism, and Zen Buddhism, as well as the oral traditions of Polynesia, North and South America, and Australia. He also documents the attempts of various peoples to put their environmental ethics into practice. Finally, he wrestles with a question of vital importance to all people sharing the fate of this small planet: How can the world's many and diverse environmental philosophies be brought together in a complementary and consistent whole?

Editorial Reviews

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"A lucid, original, and useful work by a fine scholar already well known in the emerging field of environmental philosophy."--David Abram, University of Kansas

From the Back Cover

"A lucid, original, and useful work by a fine scholar already well known in the emerging field of environmental philosophy." (David Abram, University of Kansas) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 292 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press (December 29, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520085604
• ISBN-13: 978-0520085602
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #373,462 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

J, Baird Callicott is University Distinguished Research Professor of Philosophy and formerly Regents Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Texas. He is the co-Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy and author or editor of a score of books and author of dozens of journal articles, encyclopedia articles, and book chapters in environmental philosophy and ethics. Callicott has served the International Society for Environmental Ethics as President and Yale University as Bioethicist-in-Residence, and he has served the UNT Department of Philosophy and Religion Studies as chair. His research goes forward simultaneously on four main fronts: theoretical environmental ethics, comparative environmental ethics and philosophy, the philosophy of ecology and conservation policy, and biocomplexity in the environment, coupled natural and human systems (sponsored by the National Science Foundation). Callicott is perhaps best known as the leading contemporary exponent of Aldo Leopold's land ethic and is currently exploring an Aldo Leopold Earth ethic in response to global climate change. He taught the world's first course in environmental ethics in 1971 at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. His teaching at UNT includes graduate and undergraduate courses in ancient Greek philosophy and ethical theory.

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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's About Ethics and What We Do to the Land, March 13, 2001

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"ritakay" (Crystal Lake, il United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Earth's Insights: A Multicultural Survey of Ecological Ethics from the Mediterranean Basin to the Australian Outback (Paperback)

I'm thrilled to find this paperback. Calicott tries to answer the ethical questions which have been ignored by all converts to the New Individualism.. The author is a philosopher and an excellent academic writer. It took me a while to get used to him. Since 1994 this work has been a guide for writers who deal with the ethics of land use. In the U.S. we perceive the land as a commodity. Calicott surveys the ecological ethics of many cultures, now overwhelmed by Euroculture. He starts in the Mediterranean Basin with the historical roots of our environmental attitudes and values. Then he covers the rest of the earth including those of the original settlers of the Western Hemisphere. But he also details "A Postmodern Evolutionary Ecological Environmental Ethic"and contrasts it with our traditional environmental actions. He admires the work of Hindu environmentalists as well as Buddists in Sri Lanka and Thailand. Where else can we learn about this?