Philosophy as Practice in the Ecological Emergency

This book argues that philosophy is as practical as plumbing and what we need right now is what philosophers can offer as philosophers to help us all, our species, and beyond, through this ecological emergency, this climate change, this anthropocene.

This book is about the meaning and purpose of philosophy as a way of, a practice of, responding to the ecological emergency, which includes climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, habitat destruction, and all the associated impacts that fragment, and threaten to create collapse, among the systems that created and sustain us. There are the related economic and social impacts, the fragmentation of communities and political ideologies through attitude polarisation, and the increasing threats to systems by those who seek to promote further exploitation at the expense of attempts to regain some system of cooperation and an attitude of compassion which is at the heart of our survival strategies as a species.

Philosophy has always sought to address questions related both to our place in the universe, and to how to live, given our understanding of our place. Those of us committed to a philosophical life have used a range of metaphors and narratives to enlighten, and to exhort to action, those who would seek to understand what to do, how, and why. Philosophy has played a key role in helping us as a species to respond to the ecological emergency. What, then, is the practice of philosophy, given that we're in an ecological emergency?

This question is the thread, and it forms the framework for the dialogue that runs through the book.

Considers the meaning and purpose of philosophy as a way of responding to the ecological emergency Asks what is the practice of philosophy in an ecological crisis Encompasses our social and political reactions to the crisis

Auteur
Dr Lucy Weir, the editor of this collection, was mentored by the late Emeritus Professor Barbara Harrell-Bond (founder of The Refugee Studies Programme, Oxford University). Harrell-Bond emphasised the value and importance of a multidisciplinary approach, combining scholarship, policy and practice. This work echoes those aims. Weir's publications include "Fleeing Vesuvius" (New Society, 2011, contributing author) and "Love is Green: compassion as responsibility in the ecological emergency" (Vernon Press, 2019). The biographies of the distinguished list of contributors is included in the text.

Contenu
Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. Beginning with the Good of System.- Chapter 3. Physics, Feminism and Whakapapa; Integrating EcoSubjectivity After the Enlightenment.- Chapter 4. We Are the Emergency.- Chapter 5. Justice in the Ecological Emergency: The Search for the Common Good.- Chapter 6. Philosophy as Ecological Practic.- Chapter 7. Reconciling Hungry Spirits in the Ecological Emergency.- Chapter 8. Equality: Industrial Capitalism's Trojan Horse Environmental Racism, Green Colonialism, and The Renewable Energies Revolution.- Chapter 9. Learning to See 'Green' in an Ecological Crisis.- Chapter 10. Guidelines for a Post-speciesist Epistemology in the Age of Anthropocene.- Chapter 11. Breakthrough Compass: Navigating the Injustices of the Ecological Emergency.- Chapter 12. The Capabilities Approach and the Environment.- Chapter 13. Secular Stewardship in the Ecological Emergency.- Chapter 14. Conclusion: Learning to Live, Learning to Die./