Thinking about the environment : our debt to the classical and medieval past / edited by Thomas M. Robinson and Laura Westra.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Robinson, T. M.

Westra, Laura.

Language:

English

Italian

Subjects (All):

Environmentalism--History.

Environmentalism.

History.

Philosophy, Ancient.

Philosophy, Medieval.

Nature in literature.

Physical Description:

xii, 26 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Lanham, Md. : Lexington Books, [2002]

Language Note:

Essays in English and Italian.

Summary:

Why should the work of the ancient and the medievals, so far as it relates to nature, still be of interest and an inspiration to us now? The contributions to this enlightening volume explore and uncover contemporary scholarship's debt to the classical and medieval past. Thinking About the Environment synthesizes religious thought and environmental theory to trace a trajectory from Mesopotamian mythology and classical and Hellenistic Greek, through classical Latin writers, to medieval Christian views of the natural world and our relationship with it. The work also offers medieval Arabic and Jewish views on humanity's inseparability from nature. The volume concludes with a study of the breakdown between science and value in contemporary ecological thought. Thinking About the Environment will be a invaluable source book for those seeking to address environmental ethics from a historical perspective.

Contents:

I. Greece and Rome

1. Nature and Culture in Mesopotamian and Greek Myths / Michael W. Herren 3

2. Order, Harmony, and Justice: The Greek Conception of the Environment / Hideya Yamakawa 15

3. Una volta fui arbusto e muto pesce del mare [Once I was a Tree and a Silent Fish of the Sea] / Giovanni Casertano 25

4. Environmental Issues in Hellenistic Philosophy / Helen Karabatzaki 33

5. Il piu antico decreto ecologico a noi noto e il suo contesto [The Oldest Known Ecological Law in Context] / Livio Rossetti 43

6. Roman Forests, Vergilian Trees: Our Ambiguous Relationship with Nature / Lorina Quartarone 59

7. Augustine and Love of the Environment / Madonna R. Adams 73

II. Medieval Christianity

8. Perceptions of Nature in Polish Medieval and Early Renaissance Writings / Teresa Kwiatkowska 87

9. Nature and Restoration in Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival / Rosmarie Thee Morewedge 99

10. Natural Laws and the Laws of Nature in Aristotle and Aquinas / Laura Westra 123

11. La tutela ambientale del lago Trasimeno in eta medioevale [Environmental Protection of Lake Trasimene in the Middle Ages] / Valentina Vincenti 131

III. Medieval Islam

12. Islamic Ecology: The De-Alienation of Persons from Nature / Parviz Morewedge 143

13. The Universe Alive: Nature in the Masnavi of Jalal al-Din Rumi / L. Clarke 159

IV. Medieval Judaism

14. Maimonides and Nachmanides on Sending Away the Mother Bird / Edward Halper 185

15. The Third and Fifth Day of Creation Versus the Timeless Now / Emilie F. Kutash 203

V. Then and Now

16. Reuniting Science and Value in the Natural Environment / Daryl M. Tress 213.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

0739104209

OCLC:

51232262