This book explores alternative ways of understanding our environmental situation by challenging the Western view of nature as purely a resource for humans. Environmental Consciousness, Nature and the Philosophy of Education asserts that we need to retrieve a thinking that expresses a different relationship with nature: one that celebrates nature's otherness and is attuned to its intrinsic integrity, agency, normativity and worth. Through such receptivity to nature's address we can develop a sense of our own being-in-nature that provides a positive orientation towards the problems we now face. Michael Bonnett argues that this reframing and rethinking of our place in nature has fundamental implications for education as a whole, questioning the idea of human "stewardship" of nature and developing the idea of moral education in a world of alterity and non-rational agents. Drawing on and revising work published by the author over the last 15 years, this book will be essential reading for students and scholars of environmental studies, environmental education, and the philosophy of education.

This book explores alternative ways of understanding our environmental situation by challenging the Western view of nature as purely a resource for humans. Environmental Consciousness, Nature and the Philosophy of Education asserts that we need to retrieve a thinking that expresses a different relationship with nature: one that celebrates nature's otherness and is attuned to its intrinsic integrity, agency, normativity and worth. Through such receptivity to nature's address we can develop a sense of our own being-in-nature that provides a positive orientation towards the problems we now face. Michael Bonnett argues that this reframing and rethinking of our place in nature has fundamental implications for education as a whole, questioning the idea of human "stewardship" of nature and developing the idea of moral education in a world of alterity and non-rational agents. Drawing on and revising work published by the author over the last 15 years, this book will be essential reading for students and scholars of environmental studies, environmental education, and the philosophy of education.

This volume explores both some important ways in which moral values are embedded in much current discussion of environmental issues, as well as ways in which some conventional understandings of morality and moral education can be transformed by ideas that have emerged in the discourse of environmental concern. Contributions range from a variety of disciplines including philosophy, psychoanalysis, social psychology, and anthropology, and reflect a variety of cultural settings including Occidental, Oriental, African, and South American. The book discusses the moral character of our relationship with the natural world; the quality of the relationship between our 'internal' and 'external' worlds; the issues that arise when responsibilities towards future generations are considered; and the need for cultural change and the practical obstacles to achieving this in a school context. In the process, insights are drawn from Western philosophy, Buddhism, Daoism, Ubuntu, and Confucianism. The result is a collection that provides a rich backcloth for understanding, and in some cases reconceptualising, morality in an age of growing environmental concern, and its extensive implications for the theory and conduct of moral education. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Moral Education.

This volume explores both some important ways in which moral values are embedded in much current discussion of environmental issues, as well as ways in which some conventional understandings of morality and moral education can be transformed by ideas that have emerged in the discourse of environmental concern. Contributions range from a variety of disciplines including philosophy, psychoanalysis, social psychology, and anthropology, and reflect a variety of cultural settings including Occidental, Oriental, African, and South American. The book discusses the moral character of our relationship with the natural world; the quality of the relationship between our 'internal' and 'external' worlds; the issues that arise when responsibilities towards future generations are considered; and the need for cultural change and the practical obstacles to achieving this in a school context. In the process, insights are drawn from Western philosophy, Buddhism, Daoism, Ubuntu, and Confucianism. The result is a collection that provides a rich backcloth for understanding, and in some cases reconceptualising, morality in an age of growing environmental concern, and its extensive implications for the theory and conduct of moral education. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Moral Education.