Return to Nature?: An Ecological Counterhistory

In Return to Nature? Contributions to Eco-Philosophy, Dallmayr demonstrates how, in the modern era, nature has been "marginalized, colonized, and abused." Dallmayr argues, however, that it has not always been thus: in premodern and classical times, the idea of nature was synonymous with the comprehensive matrix that encompassed all beings. With the Enlightenment, Western thinkers began to differentiate and disperse this original unity. What is becoming increasingly evident in our time is that this fundamental disjuncture also involves the fragmentation of human relations. Dallmayr speculates that this is why we find ourselves today experiencing a strong desire to change course-to get back to nature. Return to Nature? is part of a sequence of books in which Dallmayr has developed, from different perspectives, a concept of "relationism." In Search of the Good Life (2007) and The Promise of Democracy (2010) investigate inter-human and inter-social relations. In Integral Pluralism (2010), inter-cultural relations are expanded to embrace the spiritual. Return to Nature? rounds out the nexus of relationships by exploring how to reassert nature's primacy in modern philosophical discussions. Dallmayr seeks to probe the best of Western thought, informed by other traditions, in a passionate call to reclaim the natural in our lives. Our first reader writes, "Fred Dallmayr is one of the leading catholic thinkers in the world, whose work brings together learning, intelligence, sensibility and moral passion." Return to Nature? will be an important contribution to our lists in political theory, philosophy, and environmentalism.