The Social Creation of Nature (Paperback)

by Neil Evernden (Author) "To judge by the headlines and editorials of contemporary news media, there is a widespread sense that the whole of nature has become imperiled through..." (more)
Key Phrases: materialistic monism, environmental thought, Italian Renaissance, The Social Use of Nature, The Literal Landscape (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Sociobiologists talk about human life as if it were no more than an element of Nature, bound by its iron laws. Neil Evernden makes an end run around them by showing that once upon a time 'Nature' did not exist. Rather, he says, it is a human invention and it has a history." -- Environmental History Review

Product Description

"I think The Social Creation of Nature stands Evernden in relation to the present generation roughly as Thoreau stood in relation to New England Transcendentalism." -- Max Oelschlaeger, author of The Idea of Wilderness.

"A thoughtful and illuminating book... For Evernden, `wildness' is what should be defended and preserved." -- New Scientist.

One reason for our failure to "save the earth," argues Neil Evernden, is our disagreement about what "nature" really is -- how it works, what constitutes a risk to it, and even whether we ourselves are part of it. Nature is as much a social entity as a physical one. In addition to the physical resources to be harnessed and transformed, it consists of a domain of norms that may be called upon in defense of certain social ideals. In exploring the consequences of conventional understandings of nature, The Social Creation of Nature also seeks a way around the limitations of a socially created nature in order to defend what is actually imperiled -- "wildness," in which, Thoreau wrote, lies hope for "the preservation of the world."

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press (September 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801845483
• ISBN-13: 978-0801845482
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #281,801 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, June 29, 2000

By A Customer

This book is excellent both as an introduction to the subject of radical ecology and as a thought-provoking collection of ideas for those already familiar with deep ecology and other radical environmental thought.

Evernden argues that the conception of "nature" is a social construction. Nature as we conceive of it is simply a name given to a collection of entities and webs with no direct correlation. The problem is that such naming of complex natural events, lives, beings, etc. reduces, even eliminates, our ability to interact with what truly is natural.

The central manifestation of this dilemma Evernden refers to is the obsession our culture has created with the idea of saving nature, saving endangered species, etc. It is precisely the conception of nature which presumes that humans can identify certain "endangered species," name them, categorize them, rank them (save the whales, but don't save the rats? why? well, whales are cuter, right?) only re-inforces the attempt to dominate and control which is at the root of the environmental crisis.

Evernden advocates the shattering of what we assume nature to be, and such movement away from commonplace thinking comes from the words we speak. When we can stop thinking of certain species in need of being "saved," we may finally be able to simply wonder at the beauty of that which we can't name.

1 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Thought Provoking, August 25, 1999

By A Customer

Hard to understand language, interesting ideas

0 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Complicated vocabulary, convoluted ideas, very interesting, August 29, 1999

By A Customer

overall I liked this book quite a bi