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This volume contains essays that offer both historical and contemporary views of nature, as seen through a hermeneutic, deconstructive, and phenomenological lens. It reaches back to Ancient Greek conceptions of physis in Homer and Empedocles, encompasses 13th century Zen master D gen, and extends to include 21st Century Continental Thought. By providing ontologies of nature from the perspective of the history of philosophy and of contemporary philosophy alike, the book shows that such perspectives need to be seen in dialogue with each other in order to offer a deeper and more comprehensive philosophy of nature. The value of the historical accounts discussed lies in discerning the conceptual problems that contribute to the dominant thinking underpinning our ecological predicament, as well as in providing helpful resources for thinking innovatively through current problems, thus recasting the past to allow for a future yet to be imagined. The book also discusses contemporary continental thinkers who are more critically aware of the dominant anthropocentric and instrumental view of nature, and who provide substantial guidance for a sensible, innovative "ontology of nature" suited for an ecology of the future. Overall, the ontologies of nature discerned in this volume are not merely of theoretical interest, but strategically serve to suspend anthropocentrism and spark ethical and political reorientation in the context of our current ecological predicament.
List of contents
Part I. Greek Philosophies of "Physis".- Chapter 1. Physis in Empedocles (Michael Shaw).- Chapter 2. The Ambivalence of Eros: Plato's Natural Beginning(s) (Joshua Hayes).- Chapter 3. Folding Nature Back Upon Itself: Aristotle and the Rebirth of Physis (Marjolein Oele).- Part II. The Modern Turn in Nature.- Chapter 4. Kant's 'Other Nature (Angelica Nuzzo).- Chapter 5. Hegel's Anti-Ontology of Nature (Sebastian Rand).- Chapter 6. Novalis, Nature and the Absolute (Jane Kneller).- Part III. Phenomenologists and Post-Modern Thinkers on Nature.- Chapter 7. An Ecology of the Future (Gerard Kuperus).- Chapter 8. Nature (or Not) In Heidegger (Nancy Holland).- Chapter 9. Precarious Communities: Towards a Phenomenology of Extinction (Brett Buchanan).- Chapter 10. Stratification, Dependence, and Nonanthropocentrism: Nicolai Hartmann's Critical Ontology (Keith Peterson).- Chapter 11. Naturalism, Estrangement, and Resistance: On the Lived Senses of Nature (Ted Toadvine).- Chapter 12. Given to Bewilderment, Hand to Limb (Peter Steeves).- Chapter 13. When Washing Rice, Know that the Water is Your Own Life: An Essay on D gen in the Age of Fast Food (Jason Wirth).
About the author
Gerard Kuperus is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of San Francisco. He is the author of Ecopolitical Homelessness: Defining Place in an Unsettled World (Routledge 2016), as well as numerous articles in Continental Philosophy focusing on philosophy of nature. He has held the position of Davies Professor (2015) at the University of San Francisco.
Marjolein Oele is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of San Francisco. She is the author of a variety of articles and book chapters that intertwine Aristotle’s philosophy with topics and figures in Continental Philosophy. Her book E-Co-Affectivity is forthcoming. She currently holds the NEH Chair at the University of San Francisco (2016-2017).
Summary
This volume contains essays that offer both historical and contemporary views of nature, as seen through a hermeneutic, deconstructive, and phenomenological lens. It reaches back to Ancient Greek conceptions of physis in Homer and Empedocles, encompasses 13th century Zen master Dōgen, and extends to include 21st Century Continental Thought. By providing ontologies of nature from the perspective of the history of philosophy and of contemporary philosophy alike, the book shows that such perspectives need to be seen in dialogue with each other in order to offer a deeper and more comprehensive philosophy of nature. The value of the historical accounts discussed lies in discerning the conceptual problems that contribute to the dominant thinking underpinning our ecological predicament, as well as in providing helpful resources for thinking innovatively through current problems, thus recasting the past to allow for a future yet to be imagined. The book also discusses contemporary continental thinkers who are more critically aware of the dominant anthropocentric and instrumental view of nature, and who provide substantial guidance for a sensible, innovative “ontology of nature” suited for an ecology of the future. Overall, the ontologies of nature discerned in this volume are not merely of theoretical interest, but strategically serve to suspend anthropocentrism and spark ethical and political reorientation in the context of our current ecological predicament.
