The Green Halo A Bird's-Eye View of Ecological Ethics

by Kohak, Erazim

• ISBN13: 9780812694116
• ISBN10: 0812694112
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-10-25
• Publisher: Open Court

Summary

Presenting a wide range of views and strategies, The Green Halo analyzes the problematic relations between humans and the rest of the natural world. The author looks at the views of thinkers including John Muir, Aldo Leopold, and Al Gore, and suggests alternative ways to view nature, assign it value, and respond to ecological crises.

Author Biography

Erazim Kohak is Professor Emeritus at Boston University and former Professor of Philosophy at Charles University in Prague.

Table of Contents

Analytic Table of Contents	ix
Foreword	xv
Holmes Rolston, III
Preface to the English Edition	xix
Preface to the Czech Edition	xxiii
Introduction: Of Humans, Elephants, and China Shops	1	(1)
Ethics and Ecological Ethics	1	(5)
The Limits of Yellow Paint	6	(5)
Ecology, Science, Philosophy	11	(4)
Part I: OF HUMANS AND (OTHER) ANIMALS	15	(36)
Strangers in the Wild	17	(8)
Our Long-Lost Kin	25	(4)
Meat or Mercy?	29	(12)
The Lure of Perfection	41	(4)
All Too Human	45	(6)
Part II: OF NATURE, VALUE, AND ETHICS	51	(52)
The Moral Sense of Nature	53	(5)
Ethics of the Fear of the Lord	58	(7)
The Ethics of Noble Humanity	65	(14)
The Ethics of Reverence for Life	79	(8)
The Land Ethic	87	(6)
Lifeboat Ethics	93	(10)
Part III: STRATEGIES IN ECOLOGICAL ETHICS	103	(2)
A. STRATEGIES OF PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY (SUBJECTIVIZATION IN ECOLOGICAL ETHICS)	105	(24)
About Ecological Strategies	105	(3)
Deep Ecology: Arne Naess and Friends	108	(10)
Ecology of Deep Identification	118	(4)
Feminism and Ecofeminism	122	(7)
B. STRATEGIES OF RECOGNIZED NECESSITY (OBJECTIVIZATION IN ECOLOGICAL ETHICS)	129	(26)
Hypothesis GAIA	129	(6)
Nature and the Human Animal	135	(7)
Systems Theory in Ecological Ethics	142	(5)
``Ecology'' as an Ideology	147	(8)
Postscript: Turning Green: The Making of a Minimalist	155	(9)
Notes	164	(23)
Notes for a Bibliography	187	(16)
Index of Names	203	(4)
Index of Topics	207	(4)
Index of Biblical Quotations	211