Regarding Nature: A conceptual introduction How should we regard nature? Until recently, this question was decisively answered by the practices of ...

The volume documents, and makes an original contribution to, an astonishing period in twentieth-century philosophy—the progress of Arne Naess's ecophilosophy from its inception to the present. It includes Naess's most crucial polemics with leading thinkers, drawn from sources as diverse as scholarly articles, correspondence, TV interviews and unpublished exchanges. The book testifies to the skeptical and self-correcting aspects of Naess's vision, which has deepened and broadened to include third world and feminist perspectives. Philosophical Dialogues is an essential addition to the (...) literature on environmental philosophy. (shrink)

Science generates an image of nature as devoid of meaning or value. and this image makes moral limits on the human manipulation of nature appear irrational. In part. this results from the particular kind of abstraction that constitutes scientific activity. For both epistemological and practical reasons. this abstract ion should not be taken as the only reality of nature. Such mis-taking becomes increasingly Iikely-and dangerous-as science and technology are used in the construction of the world within which we experience nature (...) and ourselves. Three alternative images of nature are discussed to indicate other possibilities. Imaging nature as an interconnected network. a view rooted in both ecology and Buddhism. is a more comprehensive and adcquate foundation for conceptualizing the practical and ethical dimensions of humanity’s relation with nature. (shrink)

The meaning and justification of the requirement of total evidence are examined. It is argued that there are several significantly different interpretations of the requirement, but each interpretation makes the requirement highly suspect. For any of the usual interpretations of the requirement, it would be quite unreasonable to conduct inquiry in such a way as to fulfill it. It is then suggested that the rational inquirer should seek the optimal amount of evidence, rather than all the evidence. This raises the (...) problems surrounding the idea of scientific or epistemic utility. (shrink)

Science generates an image of nature as devoid of meaning or value. and this image makes moral limits on the human manipulation of nature appear irrational. In part. this results from the particular kind of abstraction that constitutes scientific activity. For both epistemological and practical reasons. this abstract ion should not be taken as the only reality of nature. Such mis-taking becomes increasingly Iikely-and dangerous-as science and technology are used in the construction of the world within which we experience nature (...) and ourselves. Three alternative images of nature are discussed to indicate other possibilities. Imaging nature as an interconnected network. a view rooted in both ecology and Buddhism. is a more comprehensive and adcquate foundation for conceptualizing the practical and ethical dimensions of humanity’s relation with nature. (shrink)

Title: Against Method Publisher: Verso Author: Paul K. Feyerabend Title: Science in a Free Society Publisher: Verso ISBN: 0860917533 Author: Paul K. Feyerabend.

(1972). Contemporary Schools of Metascience. Vol. I: Anglo‐Saxon Schools of Metascience; Vol. II: Continental Schools of Metascience (2nd edition, printed in one volume), Gerard Radnitzky. World Futures: Vol. 11, No. sup1, pp. 13-24.