A pioneering work of ecological philosophy that has been acclaimed since its first publication A highly original and engaging linking of philosophy and science and Spinoza and Einstein, resulting in a new theory of ecological ethics Even more topical and relevant now than its first publication Includes a substantial new Introduction by the author

A pioneering work of ecological philosophy that has been acclaimed since its first publication A highly original and engaging linking of philosophy and science and Spinoza and Einstein, resulting in a new theory of ecological ethics Even more topical and relevant now than its first publication Includes a substantial new Introduction by the author

What is the optimal framework for environmental reform - reform on a scale commensurate with the global ecological crisis? In particular, how adequate are liberal forms of parliamentary democracy to the challenge posed by this crisis? These are the questions pondered by the contributors to the present volume. In their evaluations of liberalism, these authors range from qualified defence to extensive critique, though the majority regard democracy in some - not necessarily liberal - form as the most promising vehicle for ecopolitics. Exploration of the possibilities of democracy in this connection gives rise to certain common themes. These include, firstly, that of the relation between ecological morality and political structures of procedures: are certain political systems more conducive than others to the flowering of an ecological outlook, or are the moral values of citizens formed independently of political processes? A second theme relates to the question of the structure of decision-making and distribution of information in political systems: are ecological interests best served by centralised or decentralised political scenarios? The latter question leads, in several contributions, to ideas of 'democracy without traditional boundaries', where this idea is taken, in different ways by different authors, as a key both to environmentalism in an age of global ecology and to the revitalisation of democracy itself in a world of increasingly protean constituencies and mutable, indeed soluble, boundaries.

What is the optimal political framework for environmental reform - reform on a scale commensurate with the global ecological crisis? How adequate are liberal forms of parliamentary democracy to face the challenges posed? These are the questions pondered by the contributors to this volume.

A bold and original work in ecocosmology and metaphysics. In For Love of Matter Freya Mathews challenges basic assumptions of Western science, modern philosophy, and environmental philosophy, arguing that the environmental crisis is a symptom of a larger, metaphysical crisis. Western science rests on the premise that the world is an inert backdrop to human presence rather than a communicative presence in its own right, one capable of dialogical congress with us. Mathews explores the transformative effects of a substitution of the latter, panpsychist premise for the former, materialist one. She suggests that to exist in a dialogical modality is to enter an expanded realm of eros in which the self and world are mutually kindled into a larger, more incandescent state of realization. She argues that any adequate philosophical response to the so-called "environmental crisis" cannot be encompassed within the minor discipline of environmental philosophy but must instead address the full range of existential questions.