The Environment Between Theory and Practice

by Avner de-Shalit

Overview

Why is there a gap between the questions that environmental philosophers discuss and the issues that motivate environmental activists? The author attempts to bridge this gap by combining tools of political philosophy with questions of environmental ethics and politics. He defends a radical position in relations to environmental protection and social policies in order to put forward a political theory, which is not only philosophically sound, but also relevant to the practice of environmental activism. He argues that several directions in environmental ethics can be at odds with the contemporary political debates surrounding environmental politics. He then goes on to examine the environmental scope of the political theories of liberalism, communitarianism, participatory democracy, and socialism, and concludes that the last two are crucial for protecting the environment.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780191522949
Publisher:	OUP Oxford
Publication date:	03/10/2000
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	588 KB

About the Author

Avner de-Shalit Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Science, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Associate Fellow of Oxford Centre for Philosophy and the Environment, Mansfield, College, University of Oxford.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Part I: Why hasn't environmental philosophy had an impact on policies?
• 1: The social role of the philosopher and the philosophical role of society
• 2: Where philosophy meets politics: the concept of the environment
• Part II: Protecting the environment: from meta-ethics to political theory
• 3: Is liberalism environment friendly?
• 4: The community of nature and the nature of community
• 5: Democracy and the environment: a radical theory of participation
• 6: Socialism and the environment.
• Summary: from theory to practice