Published in 1997. This book develops a postmodernist critique of philosophy - although not the postmodernism of literary philosophers such as Derrida. This postmodernism is one of ecological limitationism coupled with a practical common sense 'realism'. The authors affirm the reality of life-world and the primacy of practice against materialists, physicalists and reductionists. They attempt to show that orthodox Anglo-American analytic philosophy is not merely incapable of completing its own quest to supply a regionally justified system of reality, but, more importantly, it fails as well to meet the challenges of the age.

Published in 1997. This book develops a postmodernist critique of philosophy - although not the postmodernism of literary philosophers such as Derrida. This postmodernism is one of ecological limitationism coupled with a practical common sense 'realism'. The authors affirm the reality of life-world and the primacy of practice against materialists, physicalists and reductionists. They attempt to show that orthodox Anglo-American analytic philosophy is not merely incapable of completing its own quest to supply a regionally justified system of reality, but, more importantly, it fails as well to meet the challenges of the age.

We live in times of uncertainty and insecurity, at a personal, national and global level. Writers such as Samuel P. Huntington and Robert D. Kaplan, respectively, have spoken of an emerging 'clash of civilizations' and of 'coming anarchy'. This book is also concerned with the future of civilization, in particular with the conflict between economic growth and the sustainability of the biophysical lifesupport systems of the planet, arguing that the flawed system of orthodox neo-classical economics has justified the modernist belief in the necessity of unending economic growth and the ceaseless exploitation of nature.

Economic globalization--the creation of a one-world economy with the free-flow of capital, goods and services across national boundaries--is eroding the economic sovereignty of nations and producing a trail of unemployment and social turmoil in its wake. Further, the irresistible force of economic globalization is set to crash into the immovable object of the global environmental crisis, producing a breakdown of civilized order in the world and threatening the continuation of human life itself. This book is a systematic critique of orthodox neoclassical economics, which has supplied a philosophical and ideological framework for economic globalization, unending economic growth and the ceaseless exploitation of nature.

This scientifically rigorous and philosophically sophisticated defense of environmentalism is meant to excite, educate, and alarm the reader. There is a widespread scientific and public recognition that the world is facing an environmental crisis of vast proportions. What is the relationship between the growth of human population and industrial activity on one hand and the environmental crisis on the other? If this is not determined and dealt with, Earth's ecology may be expected to collapse.