1st Edition

Critiquing Sustainability, Changing Philosophy

By Jenneth Parker Copyright 2014
    228 Pages
    by Routledge

    228 Pages 4 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    To increasing numbers of people, sustainability is the key challenge of the twenty-first century. In the many fields where it is a goal, persistent problems obstruct the efforts of those trying to make a difference. The task of this book is to provide an overview of the current state of philosophy in the context of what philosophy is, could be or should be – in relation to sustainability and the human future on Earth. The book is conceived as a contribution to the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, helping to link work on philosophy and sustainability.

    Critiquing Sustainability, Changing Philosophy focusses on the importance of philosophical work to the formation and effectiveness of global civil society and social movements for sustainability in the context of the Anthropocene age of the Earth. It takes a transdisciplinary systems approach that challenges philosophy and concludes by proposing a greatly enhanced role for philosophy in contributing to global public reason for sustainability.

    This book will be of interest to philosophers, sustainability practitioners and thinkers, policy makers and all those engaged in the global movement for sustainability.

    Introduction  1. Starting Points  2. The Antropocene  3. Critiquing Models of Human Being for Sustainability  4. Towards a Philosophy for Earth System Science  5. Changing Material Practices: techne and technology  6. A Philosophy of Social Science for Sustainability?  7. Culture and Sustainability: 'what has postmodernism ever done for us?'  8. Philosophies for Sustainability: an analytic review  9. Sustainability - a school for freedom?

    Biography

    Jenneth Parker is Research Director at the Schumacher Institute for Sustainable Systems, UK 

    "Overall, Parker deserves great credit for suggesting ways in which philosophy can contribute to sustainability research. Indeed, I very much welcome the aspiration to utilize philosophy not only to critique the foundations of such research (where this is called for) but also to strengthen transdisciplinary research. As profound socio-economic changes to make the societies in the overdeveloped part of the world environmentally sustainable are more urgently needed than ever, I hope that Critiquing Sustainability will be widely read among philosophers."Journal of Critical Realism, Hubert Buch-Hansen, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark