Democracy and the Claims of Nature: Critical Perspectives for a New Century

Front Cover
Ben A. Minteer, Bob Pepperman Taylor
Rowman & Littlefield, 2002 - Nature - 359 pages
Can democrats be environmentalists? Democracy and the Claims of Nature tackles the core questions raised by the intersection of our democratic and environmental commitments, including the conceptual and practical connections between democratic theory and environmental ethics, the potential for an environmentally defined democratic citizenship, the concerns of equity and justice in environmental discourse and policy making, and the shape and future of democratic environmental movements. The prominent contributors-philosophers, political theorists, and social scientists-engage both the complexities and the possibilities of a robustly democratic environmentalism, and each offers their own unique insights into the particular challenges that flow from the intermingling of environmental ethics and politics. Taken together, the essays provide an indispensable multidisciplinary analysis of the ways in which our loyalties to democracy and the environment confront and mutually reinforce one another in theory and practice. Democracy and the Claims of Nature will be of great interest not only to students and educators in environmental studies, American political thought, and democratic theory, but to environmental professionals and citizens concerned about the health of both our democratic ideas and institutions and the environment in the 21st Century.
 

Selected pages

Contents

Democracy and Environmentalism FOUNDATIONS AND JUSTIFICATIONS IN ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
11
Deweyan Democracy and Environmental Ethics
33
Environmental Pragmatism Ecocentrism and Deliberative Democracy BETWEEN PROBLEMSOLVING AND FUNDAMENTAL CRITIQUE
49
The Legitimacy Crisis in Environmental Ethics and Politics
71
Science Value and Ethics A HIERARCHICAL THEORY
91
ENVIRONMENTALISM AND DEMOCRATIC CITIZENSHIP
115
Opinionated Natures TOWARD A GREEN PUBLIC CULTURE
117
Vulnerability and Virtue DEMOCRACY DEPENDENCY AND ECOLOGICAL STEWARDSHIP
133
Environmentalist Democracy and the Cultural Politics of Nature in Monte Verde Costa Rica
215
Environmental Rights as Democratic Rights
237
Deliberative Democracy and Environmental Policy
257
DEMOCRACY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENTS
277
Cycles of Closure in Environmental Politics and Policy
279
The People Politics and the Planet WHO KNOWS PROTECTS AND SERVES NATURE BEST?
301
Linking Movements and Constructing a New Vision ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND COMMUNITY FOOD SECURITY
321
Civic Environmentalism
335

Restoring Ecological Citizenship
153
Aldo Leopolds Civic Education
173
ENVIRONMENTALISM AND THE BOUNDARIES OF DEMOCRATIC DISCOURSE
189
Justice Democracy and Global Warming
191
INDEX
353
About the Contributors
357
Copyright

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