Earth's Insights

by Callicott, J. Baird

• ISBN13: 9780520085602
• ISBN10: 0520085604
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-12-01
• Publisher: Univ of California Pr

Summary

The environmental crisis is global in scope, yet contemporary environmental ethics is centered predominantly in Western philosophy and religion.Earth's Insightswidens the scope of environmental ethics to include the ecological teachings embedded in non-Western worldviews. J. Baird Callicott ranges broadly, exploring the sacred texts of Islam, Hinduism, Jainism, Taoism, Confucianism, and Zen Buddhism, as well as the oral traditions of Polynesia, North and South America, and Australia. He also documents the attempts of various peoples to put their environmental ethics into practice. Finally, he wrestles with a question of vital importance to all people sharing the fate of this small planet: How can the world's many and diverse environmental philosophies be brought together in a complementary and consistent whole?

Table of Contents

Preface	xi	(6)
Foreword	xvii
Tom Hayden
1. INTRODUCTION: THE NOTION OF AND NEED FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS	1	(13)
Ethics and Environmental Ethics	1	(2)
The Practicality of Ethics	3	(4)
Traditional, Modern, and Postmodern Environmental Ethics	7	(4)
Comparative Environmental Ethics and the One-Many Problem	11	(3)
2. THE HISTORICAL ROOTS OF WESTERN EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENTAL ATTITUDES AND VALUES	14	(30)
The Judeo-Christian Tradition	14	(10)
The Despotic Interpretation	15	(1)
The Stewardship Interpretation	16	(1)
The Citizenship Interpretation	17	(4)
The Stewardship Environmental Ethic	21	(3)
Greco-Roman Historical Roots	24	(6)
Mythology	25	(1)
Philosophy	26	(4)
Islam	30	(6)
Gaia Redux	36	(8)
Goddess Spirituality	38	(1)
The Gaia Hypothesis	39	(2)
The Earth Ethic	41	(3)
3. ENVIRONMENTAL ATTITUDES AND VALUES IN SOUTH ASIAN INTELLECTUAL TRADITIONS	44	(23)
Hinduism	44	(9)
Jainism	53	(4)
Buddhism	57	(8)
Conclusion	65	(2)
4. TRADITIONAL EAST ASIAN DEEP ECOLOGY	67	(20)
Taoism	67	(8)
Confucianism	75	(10)
Conclusion	85	(2)
5. ECOLOGICAL INSIGHTS IN EAST ASIAN BUDDHISM	87	(22)
Hua-yen	88	(4)
Tendai and Shingon	92	(5)
Zen	97	(5)
The Japanese and the Environment: A Paradox	102	(7)
6. FAR WESTERN ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS	109	(24)
Polynesian Paganism	109	(10)
American Indian Land Wisdom	119	(11)
Lakota Shamanism	120	(6)
Ojibwa Totemism	126	(4)
Summary	130	(3)
7. SOUTH AMERICAN ECO-EROTICISM	133	(23)
North-South Comparative Philosophy	133	(1)
South American Ecologies of Mind	134	(20)
Tukano Systems Theory	136	(8)
Kayapo Agro-ecology	144	(10)
Conclusion	154	(2)
8. AFRICAN BIOCOMMUNITARIANISM AND AUSTRALIAN DREAMTIME	156	(29)
The African Scene	156	(16)
A Paradox	156	(3)
The Unity in Diversity of African Thought	159	(2)
Yoruba Anthropo-theology	161	(6)
A San Etiquette of Freedom	167	(5)
An African Afterword	172	(1)
Australian Aboriginal Conservators	172	(13)
Elements of an Australian Worldview	174	(5)
An Australian Environmental Ethic	179	(6)
9. A POSTMODERN EVOLUTIONARY-ECOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENTAL ETHIC	185	(26)
What Is Postmodernism?	185	(2)
The One-Many Problem	187	(6)
A Genealogy of Science	193	(4)
The Postmodern Scientific Revolution	197	(2)
A Natural History of Environmental Ethics	199	(6)
The Postmodern Credentials of the Leopold Land Ethic	205	(4)
Concluding Remarks	209	(2)
10. TRADITIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS IN ACTION	211	(24)
The Stewardship Environmental Ethic in Action	212	(6)
The Hindu Environmental Ethic in Action	218	(9)
The Buddhist Environmental Ethic in Action	227	(7)
The Sri Lanka Sarvodaya Movement	227	(5)
Buddhist Forest Conservation in Thailand	232	(2)
Conclusion	234	(1)
Notes	235	(28)
Index	263