Description A by-now classic and deeply influential critique of the foundational assumptions of ecocriticism (and strands of Romantic literature), Morton’s book issues a challenge to the idea of Nature as a transcendental term—and to the […]
Tag Archives: ethics
Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Botany: The Salutary Science
Description Cook’s magisterial study explores Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s abiding interest in botany and botanical science and the significance of his botanical writings in the context of the history of plant science. She gives a wide-ranging yet […]
An Experiment with an Air Pump
Description Inspired by Joseph Wright’s 1768 painting, Stephenson’s play juxtaposes scientific exploration in 1799 with scientific exploration in 1999. The play raises questions about scientific ethics with regard to dissection of human bodies and to […]
Man a Machine
Description Julien Offray de La Mettrie was one of the earliest French Enlightenment materialists. Exiled from France after publishing a book (A Natural History of the Soul) arguing that psychical phenomena could be explained by […]
La Mettrie’s L’Homme Machine
Description Vartanian establishes the authoritative French text of La Mettrie’s L’Homme Machine, and several essays on its background, claims, its materialism, and its place in 18th Century science. Creator Vartanian, Aram Publisher Princeton: Princeton University […]
Nature: Course Notes from the College de France
Description Merleau-Ponty, one of the greatest 20th Century thinkers of perception, the body, and its operation in the natural world, gives a course on the history of nature and its relationship with human freedom and […]
The Right to be Cold: One Woman’s Story of Protecting her Culture, the Arctic and the Whole Planet
Description Watt-Cloutier gives a biographical account of her work on climate justice in the Arctic region. She discusses her perspective on climate change coming from an Indigenous community perspective. Her notion “the right to be […]