How to be a Green liberal : nature, value and liberal philosophy / Simon Hailwood.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hailwood, Simon A.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Liberalism.

Human ecology--Political aspects.

Human ecology.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (vii, 197 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Montreal ; Ithaca : McGill-Queen's University Press, c2004.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

It is often claimed by eco-philosophers and green political theorists that liberalism, the dominant tradition of western political philosophy, is too focused on the interests of human individuals to give due weight to the environment for its own sake. Touching on various themes in environmental ethics, value theory and political philosophy, including deep ecology, eco-feminism and eco-anarchism, this book argues, against prevailing wisdom, that liberalism can embrace a non-anthropocentric, non-instrumental view of nature. Indeed, Hailwood argues that conceptual resources exist within liberal pluralism - the ideas of "neutrality", "anti-expressivism" and "otherness" - for a thoroughly ecocentric perspective. Engaging with the works of Wissenburg, Carter, Bookchin, Rawls, and many others, Hailwood develops in this book a recognizably liberal pluralist theory that encompasses a strong commitment to the non-instrumental value of independent nature. The book begins by outlying the charge of anthropocentrism against liberalism. The author then discusses historical versions of natural/political order parallels and Mill's objection to "natural lessons". The core chapters then examine nature's otherness as a ground of value, the criticisms of holistic/deep ecological views, and the pluralist critique of liberalism and the common ground between them. The final chapter summarizes the theoretical position and discusses some of the practical implications.

Contents:

1.1 Being green

1.2 Being green matters

1.3 Dismal instrumentalism

1.4 Liberalism excludes being green

allegedly

1.5 Summary of what lies ahead

2 Nature's otherness

2.2 "Naturalness", otherness and landscapes

2.3 Goodin, naturalness and meaningfulness

2.4 Otherness and fragility, ours and nature's

2.5 Eco-feminism, otherness and dualism

2.6 Otherness, not wilderness

2.7 Deep ecology and strong holism

2.8 Communitarian holism

2.9 The value of nature's otherness

2.10 Objectivity and fragility

2.11 Appropriate objectivity

3 Against blueprinting

3.2 Bioregionalism

3.3 Mill the "dualist"

3.4 Stoic landscape

3.5 Classical anarchism

3.6 Mill's lesson against natural lessons

3.7 Plato

3.8 Bioregionalism again

4 Liberal landscape

4.2 Instrumentalist circumstances

4.3 Neutrality arguments

4.4 Neutrality analogies

4.5 Otherness and instability

4.6 Not just "following nature"

4.7 My enemy's enemy is my friend: shared anti-expressivism

4.8 Reasonable virtues

4.9 Extensions: universalist, perfectionist and comprehensive liberalisms

5 Some objections

5.2 Is all value instrumental value?

5.3 No foundation for an environmental ethic?

5.4 Realism, fundamentalism, reformism and anarchism

5.5 Carter's eco-anarchism

5.6 Reformism is reformism is reformism.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-283-53051-1

9786613842961

0-7735-8226-6

OCLC:

767669721