Political nature : environmentalism and the interpretation of Western thought

Resource Information

The work Political nature : environmentalism and the interpretation of Western thought represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in University of Missouri-St. Louis Libraries. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

Political nature : environmentalism and the interpretation of Western thought

Title remainder

environmentalism and the interpretation of Western thought

Statement of responsibility

John M. Meyer

Title variation

Environmentalism and the interpretation of Western thought

Creator

• Meyer, John M

Subject

• ENVIRONMENT/Environmental Politics & Policy
• Environmentalism
• Political ecology
• SOCIAL SCIENCES/Political Science/Political & Social Theory

Language

eng

Summary

"Concern over environmental problems is prompting us to reexamine established thinking about society and politics. The challenge is to find a way for the public's concern for the environment to become more integral to social, economic, and political decision making. Two interpretations have dominated Western portrayals of the nature-politics relationship, what John Meyer calls the dualist and the derivative. The dualist account holds that politics - and human culture in general - is completely separate from nature. The derivative account views Western political thought as derived from conceptions of nature, whether Aristotelian teleology, the clocklike mechanism of early modern science, or Darwinian selection. Meyer examines the nature-politics relationship in the writings of two of its most pivotal theorists, Aristotle and Thomas Hobbes, and of contemporary environmentalist thinkers. He concludes that we must overcome the limitations of both the dualist and the derivative interpretations if we are to understand the relationship between nature and politics."--BOOK JACKET

Cataloging source

DLC

Dewey number

320.5

Index

index present

LC call number

JA75.8

LC item number

.M49 2001

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

bibliography