Nature

Joseph Grange is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern Maine, Portland.

"This is a brilliant work that illustrates one of its central categories, 'depth,' in its own construction. First, it presents an original and massively convincing argument that the philosophical problem of our time is not recovery of forgotten Being, as Heidegger argued, but rather the encounter with novelty in ways that overwhelm most Western philosophy. The second thing I like about this book is that the topic through which the first point is argued is ecology, in the sense of human culture relating to its environment. The philosophical cosmology Grange provides prepares the way for a simply breathtaking review and critique of major positions in ecological ethics. The third thing I like is the cosmology itself. Grange draws his inspiration from Whitehead, and the points that he makes constitute a new and fruitful reinterpretation of Whitehead himself. The fourth thing I like is that the book demonstrates that there is now a fairly wide circle of philosphers at home in speculative metaphysics and its connections with ethics and social theory—a group influenced in some way by Whitehead—and it shows that there is a real alternative to analytic philosophy and continental philosophy, one that comes out of the American tradition. A fifth strength of the book is the natural progression of its argument. It lays out a speculative system in rhetorically clear and evocative terms, treating the technical matters with precision but also with metaphoric richness." — Robert Cummings Neville, Boston University"Of all the works in ecology and environmental philosophy that I have read, this is far and away the most interesting. To speak more accurately of Grange's book, I found it fascinating, revelatory, and, above all, fruitful. His reflections provide novel stimuli, both to imagination and to action." — David L. Hall, The University of Texas, El Paso

• Preface Abbreviations Part One. Environmental Cosmology Chapter One: The Cosmological Method The Speculative MatrixThe Environmental HypothesisBuilding a Scheme of Environmental CategoriesA Process Ever in FormationChapter Two: The Structures of Environmental Passage Structure and ValueNormative MeasureThree Levels of ParticipationMeasuring the EnvironmentChapter Three: A World of Feelings The Dynamics of Environmental ValueFour Levels of Environmental OrderEnvironmental MoodsA Schema of Ideal Environmental ValuesChapter Four: The Human Body and Its Environmental Field Causal Efficacy and the Legacy of the PastSense Perception and the Dazzle of the SensesSymbolic ReferenceSymbolic Reference and Environmental IdealsPart Two. Nature Chapter Five: Natural Space The Inscape of Natural SpaceThe Patterns of Natural SpaceThe Symbolic Perception of Natural SpaceThe Value of Natural SpaceChapter Six: Natural Time The Inscape of Natural TimeThe Patterns of Natural TimeThe Symbolic Perception of Natural TimeThe Value of Natural TimeChapter Seven: The Arrival of Life The Inscape of LifeThe Patterns of LifeThe Sacred Depths of LifeThe Value of LifeChapter Eight: The Goodness of Nature The Primacy of AestheticsThe Principle of PlenitudeThe Harmony of the One and the ManyThe Good, the Fair, and the FittingPart Three. An Ethical Vision Chapter Nine: Types of Environmental Ethics/A Dialectical Exchange Three TraditionsKohak's Phenomenological Moral SenseDeep EcologyThe Ecocentric ModelThe Biocentric ModelThe Natural Humanism of Holmes RolstonPostmodern NaturalismChapter Ten: A Normative Environmental Ethics Cosmology and Moral VisionNorms and ConsciousnessNorms for Intrinsic Natural ValueTypes of Instrumental ValueA Case StudyRespecting ValueChapter Eleven: Nature, History, and Technology Heidegger's History of BeingWhitehead's Understanding of TechnologyPhusis, Techne, and the NewFrom Conflict to ContrastChapter Twelve: Foundational Ecology Aesthetic SensibilityStrength of MindA Respectful WillEcological PraxisNotes Bibliography Index