Matter and Desire: An Erotic Ecology
Nautilus Award Gold Medal Winner, Ecology & Environment

In Matter and Desire, internationally renowned biologist and philosopher Andreas Weber rewrites ecology as a tender practice of forging relationships, of yearning for connections, and of expressing these desires through our bodies. Being alive is an erotic process—constantly transforming the self through contact with others, desiring ever more life.

In clever and surprising ways, Weber recognizes that love—the impulse to establish connections, to intermingle, to weave our existence poetically together with that of other beings—is a foundational principle of reality. The fact that we disregard this principle lies at the core of a global crisis of meaning that plays out in the avalanche of species loss and in our belief that the world is a dead mechanism controlled through economic efficiency.

Although rooted in scientific observation, Matter and Desire becomes a tender philosophy for the Anthropocene, a “poetic materialism,” that closes the gap between mind and matter. Ultimately, Weber discovers, in order to save life on Earth—and our own meaningful existence as human beings—we must learn to love.

“If what Andreas says is anything to go by—that love permeates all things so intrusively that the world can only be conceived in terms of relationship—then holding this book in your hand is an outrageous act of lovemaking, the breadth and depth of which you will never know! This is a gasp of a book.”—Bayo Akomolafe, author of These Wilds Beyond our Fences

“Andreas Weber offers us the best medicine I know for a culture benumbed by dead-end pursuits. Pulsing with life, his work delivers us from the centuries-long dichotomies between mind and matter that have robbed us of vitality, joy, and true purpose. It brings us home to the fertile reciprocities that link us with all forms and levels of life; in so doing, it reflects and reinforces great spiritual teachings of our planet.”—Joanna Macy, author of Coming Back to Life
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Matter and Desire: An Erotic Ecology
Nautilus Award Gold Medal Winner, Ecology & Environment

In Matter and Desire, internationally renowned biologist and philosopher Andreas Weber rewrites ecology as a tender practice of forging relationships, of yearning for connections, and of expressing these desires through our bodies. Being alive is an erotic process—constantly transforming the self through contact with others, desiring ever more life.

In clever and surprising ways, Weber recognizes that love—the impulse to establish connections, to intermingle, to weave our existence poetically together with that of other beings—is a foundational principle of reality. The fact that we disregard this principle lies at the core of a global crisis of meaning that plays out in the avalanche of species loss and in our belief that the world is a dead mechanism controlled through economic efficiency.

Although rooted in scientific observation, Matter and Desire becomes a tender philosophy for the Anthropocene, a “poetic materialism,” that closes the gap between mind and matter. Ultimately, Weber discovers, in order to save life on Earth—and our own meaningful existence as human beings—we must learn to love.

“If what Andreas says is anything to go by—that love permeates all things so intrusively that the world can only be conceived in terms of relationship—then holding this book in your hand is an outrageous act of lovemaking, the breadth and depth of which you will never know! This is a gasp of a book.”—Bayo Akomolafe, author of These Wilds Beyond our Fences

“Andreas Weber offers us the best medicine I know for a culture benumbed by dead-end pursuits. Pulsing with life, his work delivers us from the centuries-long dichotomies between mind and matter that have robbed us of vitality, joy, and true purpose. It brings us home to the fertile reciprocities that link us with all forms and levels of life; in so doing, it reflects and reinforces great spiritual teachings of our planet.”—Joanna Macy, author of Coming Back to Life
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Matter and Desire: An Erotic Ecology

Matter and Desire: An Erotic Ecology

Matter and Desire: An Erotic Ecology

Matter and Desire: An Erotic Ecology

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Overview

Nautilus Award Gold Medal Winner, Ecology & Environment

In Matter and Desire, internationally renowned biologist and philosopher Andreas Weber rewrites ecology as a tender practice of forging relationships, of yearning for connections, and of expressing these desires through our bodies. Being alive is an erotic process—constantly transforming the self through contact with others, desiring ever more life.

In clever and surprising ways, Weber recognizes that love—the impulse to establish connections, to intermingle, to weave our existence poetically together with that of other beings—is a foundational principle of reality. The fact that we disregard this principle lies at the core of a global crisis of meaning that plays out in the avalanche of species loss and in our belief that the world is a dead mechanism controlled through economic efficiency.

Although rooted in scientific observation, Matter and Desire becomes a tender philosophy for the Anthropocene, a “poetic materialism,” that closes the gap between mind and matter. Ultimately, Weber discovers, in order to save life on Earth—and our own meaningful existence as human beings—we must learn to love.

“If what Andreas says is anything to go by—that love permeates all things so intrusively that the world can only be conceived in terms of relationship—then holding this book in your hand is an outrageous act of lovemaking, the breadth and depth of which you will never know! This is a gasp of a book.”—Bayo Akomolafe, author of These Wilds Beyond our Fences

“Andreas Weber offers us the best medicine I know for a culture benumbed by dead-end pursuits. Pulsing with life, his work delivers us from the centuries-long dichotomies between mind and matter that have robbed us of vitality, joy, and true purpose. It brings us home to the fertile reciprocities that link us with all forms and levels of life; in so doing, it reflects and reinforces great spiritual teachings of our planet.”—Joanna Macy, author of Coming Back to Life

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781603586979
Publisher: Rizzoli
Publication date: 07/21/2017
Pages: 256
Product dimensions: 5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Andreas Weber is a Berlin-based philosopher, biologist, and writer. He holds degrees in marine biology and cultural studies, and has collaborated with brain researcher and philosopher Francisco Varela. His books in English include: Enlivenment: Towards a Fundamental Shift in the Concepts of Nature, Culture and Politics (2013); The Biology of Wonder: Aliveness, Feeling, and the Metamorphosis of Science (2016); and Biopoetics: Towards an Existential Ecology (2016). Weber regularly contributes to major newspapers and magazines, such as National Geographic, GEO, and Die Zeit, and has won a number of awards for his writing. He teaches philosophy at Leuphana University, Lüneburg and at the University of Fine Arts, Berlin. Weber has two children, fifteen and seventeen. He lives in Berlin and Italy.

Table of Contents

Foreword ix

Preliminary Remarks xiii

Prelude: The Carrying Capacity of Air 1

Part I I

1 Touch 15

2 Desire 32

3 Death 48

Part II You

4 Transformation 79

5 Embrace 105

6 A Play of Freedom 133

Part III We

7 The Thought of the Southern Midday 159

8 Sharing 178

9 The Heavens, Now 198

Postlude: The Voice of Happiness 211

Thanks 217

Notes 218

Index 227

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