Is It Painful To Think: Conversations with Arne Naess [Paperback]

David Rothenberg (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Univ Of Minnesota Press; 1 edition (December 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816621527
• ISBN-13: 978-0816621521
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #391,692 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #40 in Books > History > Europe > Norway

More About the Author

I am a writer, musician, and philosopher, most interested in how humanity is connected with the natural world. I have explored this connection in music and words, in recordings, books, lectures and performances.

You can look at my four websites for more information:

www.davidrothenberg.net
www.survivalofthebeautiful.com
www.whybirdssing.com
www.thousandmilesong.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Father of Deep Ecology philosophy shows personal worldview, April 28, 2001

By 

Barbara Pijan "Uttarabhadrapada4" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Is It Painful To Think: Conversations with Arne Naess (Paperback)

At the close of active life (well, near the close - Arne will turn 90 in Jan.2002!) Norwegian eco-political philosopher Arne Naess is interviewed by spry young American academic David Rothenberg.

Subjects span Arne's entire life consciousness. In easy-to-read, question-and-answer format, this slim volume tells the lay reader many fascinating personal details. Rothenberg & Naess discuss -- inter alia -- Arne's rejection of his mother, childhood obsession with tiny things, the financial help from his older wealthy businessman brothers that freed Arne to live a charmed "thinking" life, and Arne's subversive leadership in the WWII Norwegian Resistance.

Why are this old Norwegian man's memories so important? Although many in the USA do not yet know him, Arne Naess is considered the father of "Deep Ecology" - a philosophy of articulate ecological beliefs, which works to shape ecological dialog with non-ecological forces.

Today's ecological thinkers will find these interviews highly educational. It is intriguing to see how the 20th century movement called Deep Ecology was shaped not only by Naess' work in ethics and communication theory, but also by his spiritual communion with non-human intelligence, and his "Panzercharakter" defensive shell.

These personal interviews reveal that the spiritually transcendent militancy of Gandhi's "satyagraha" - which Naess has made so key to modern ecological activism - appealed to him emotionally as well as philosophically. Most importantly they confirm that the emotional life of the leading ecological philosopher of the 20th century, has been equally as influential as his intellectual power.