General Ecology

Proponents of the philosophy called “deep ecology” view humans as one of the many integral components of the biosphere. They do not place humans above or outside the rest of nature. Rather humans are considered a natural constituent that modifies nature according to cultural and economic value systems. This book does not explain the principles of ecology in a traditional scientific manner. In contrast, the various chapter authors describe ecology from a deep ecology philosophical perspective. The first chapter begins with an essay on how societal interpretations of ecology vary between cultures and change over time as cultures develop economically and philosophically. This is followed by a diverse array of essays on the influence of computational logic, economics, politics, popular literature, prevailing social norms, religion, and technology on setting a paradigm for conceptualizing ecology. All of these perspectives are used to explain how current environmental issues, such as extinction, are valued by society. Plus, the contributors exactingly prognosticate the influence of the Anthropocene epoch on the natural processes of the Earth. The content and readability targets an audience well versed in bioethics and philosophy. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above; faculty and professionals. * CHOICE *
Because digital mediation has permeated every aspect of life, economy and culture in our techno-scientific societies, we need to learn to think differently about ourselves. In this remarkable collection Erich Horl makes a powerful case for shifting our theoretical horizons away from disciplinary distinctions between Media studies, Literary and Cultural studies towards a more integrated approach: a new general ecology replaces the obsolete distinction between natural and social environments and calls for a multi-layered relational approach to sustainable futures. * Rosi Braidotti, Professor of the Humanities, Utrecht University, The Netherlands *
A brilliant collection that interrogates and exemplifies the current turn in critical theory to ecology and the environment. Bringing together the very best thinkers, it maps the entangled relationship between the ecological and the technological. A must read. * Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, Professor of Modern Culture and Media, Professor of History of Art and Architecture, Brown University, USA *
With ground-breaking contributions from a renowned cast of international scholars General Ecology issues a call to arms to anyone interested in the concept of the environment. By radicalizing several strands of research in the humanities and social sciences, including cybernetics, phenomenology, systems theory, process philosophy and discourses on the anthropocene, the essays gathered here transform our approach to the concept of ecology along three axes. In variant and often mind-expanding ways, we are urged to substitute a "general ecology of relations" for the mathematization of relation central to contemporary global capital, to invest in a third stage environmental cybernetics rooted in the "technoecology of sense," and to resist the "Anthropocene illusion" by tracking the explosion of environmental agencies in today's global "technosphere." General Ecology offers nothing less than a new ecological image of thought. * Mark B. N. Hansen, Professor of Literature and Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies at Duke University, USA *
An impressive group of theorists who also appear to do real work in thinking through major concepts that are often left uninterrogated in ecophilosophy. * Anthony Paul Smith, Assistant Professor, La Salle University, USA *
Original and provocative - this volume’s focus on technology and ecology fills an important gap in the existing literature. To my knowledge there is no other collection on General Ecology nor is there a collection that pushes the relationship of technology and ecology in the way this volume does. It is quite original. * Rick Elmore, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Appalachian State University, USA *