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Full Description
In this book David E. Cooper explores our relationship to nature - to animals, to plants, to natural places - and asks how it can be shaped into an appropriate one which contributes to the good of people's lives as a whole. Religions and philosophies have much to say about our relationship with nature, and Chinese Daoist philosophy has long been regarded as among those most sympathetic to the natural world. Daoists seek an attunement to the Dao (the Way) which is characterized by a sense of flow (water being a favourite metaphor), spontaneity, non-interference, humility and patience - virtues which contrast with the aggressive and exploitative values which characterize a modern world increasingly subject to economic imperatives.
Like the best of contemporary nature writing, the classic Daoist texts reveal a yearning for convergence with nature, nostalgia for a lost intimacy with the natural world, disillusion with humanity or its products, and a feeling for nature's mystery. The author explains how these attitudes are rooted in Daoist philosophy and explores their implications for our practical engagement with natural environments. He discusses, too, a number of ethical issues - including hunting, intensive farming, and environmental activism - that reflective people need to address in their efforts to heal our relationship with the Earth.
Contents
1 Orientation
Nature writing
Some modern moods
Philosophy's roles
2 Why Daoism?
Nature and people in Chinese art
In a Daoist key
Daoist moods
3 Religion, technology, estrangement
Theology and 'the ecological crisis'
A philosopher's hut
Daoism, technology and estrangement
'Letting-be'
4 Estrangement, environmentalism and 'otherness'
Rhetoric and reality
Nature's 'otherness'
5 Nature in Daoism
'Nature': some connected senses
Nature as educator
Nature and virtue
6 On the Way (1): dao, world and unity
Dao, God, nature and nothing
Dao, experience and world
Self, world and the unity of things
7 On the Way (2): de, virtues and sages
De and the myriad things
'Profound de' and human virtues
The Daoist sage
8 Mindfulness of nature
Mindfulness, disinterestedness and impartiality
Mirroring nature and 'dirty glass'
Science and reverie
9 Nature, feeling and appreciation
Sober joy
Opposing moods
Enjoying natural beauty
10 Engaging with nature
Activity, engagement, intervention
Being outdoors
Engagement, environment and convergence
'The Daoist body'
11 Wilderness, wildness, wildlife
The wild
Wildlife and hunting
Guns, cameras, companions
12 Intervening in nature
Industry and technology
Agriculture
The Daoist garden
13 Intervening for nature?
Activism and virtue
Environmentalism and wu wei
Daoism and quietism
Notes
Reading
