Spinoza and Deep Ecology

Eccy de Jonge

'Ultimately the book does an excellent and thorough job of acquainting the reader with issues that distinguish Deep Ecology from Environmental Ethics while throwing doubts on the ability of Deep Ecology to do so.' South Pacific - Journal of Philosophy and Culture 'Anyone looking for good secondary material on Spinoza can add Chapters 3 and 4, "The Metaphysics of Nature" and "Spinoza and Deep Ecology" (esp. the section, "The Metaphysics of Love") to her reading list. Very impressive for a newly-minted scholar. This section serves well the on-going debate in environmental philosophy as to the appropriateness of Spinoza as mascot.' Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 'De Jong offers an original, interesting, reading of Spinoza which aims to combine textual accuracy with relevance to contemporary environmental thought. The book is clearly written and organised, aimed at a professional audience of environmental philosophers. The exposition of Spinoza is non-technical, and should be helpful for those unfamiliar with his philosophy.' Environmental Values

• Contents: Preface; Abbreviations of Spinoza's texts; Deep Ecology: Introduction: defining deep ecology; Deep ecology vs. environmental ethics: An integrated philosophy of care; The ethics of nature; Self-realisation: the heart of deep ecology: The nature of the self; The non-moral self; Spinoza: The metaphysics of nature: The aim of metaphysics; From metaphysics to ethics; Spinoza and deep ecology: Self analysis; The metaphysics of love; The social and political self: The politics of harm; The ideal civil state; Concluding remarks; Bibliography; Index.