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Revision as of 18:39, 12 December 2010
, 18:39, 12 December 2010→History
The basic thesis of the work is that environmental problems are only to be solved by people - people who will be required to make value judgements in conflicts that go beyond narrowly conceived human concerns. Thus people require not only an ethical system, but a way of conceiving the world and themselves such that the intrinsic value of life and nature is obvious, a system based on 'deep ecological principles'. The book encourages readers to identify their own series of such parameters - their own ecosophies. Ecology, Comunity and Lifestyle will appeal to philosophers, specialists working on environmental issues, and the more general reader who is interested in learning some of the foundational ideas of the rapidly expanding field of environmental philosophy.
The basic thesis of the work is that environmental problems are only to be solved by people - people who will be required to make value judgements in conflicts that go beyond narrowly conceived human concerns. Thus people require not only an ethical system, but a way of conceiving the world and themselves such that the intrinsic value of life and nature is obvious, a system based on 'deep ecological principles'. The book encourages readers to identify their own series of such parameters - their own ecosophies. Ecology, Comunity and Lifestyle will appeal to philosophers, specialists working on environmental issues, and the more general reader who is interested in learning some of the foundational ideas of the rapidly expanding field of environmental philosophy.
====History====
====History====
[[File:Toynbee.jpg|right|frame]]
*'''''[http://nobsword.blogspot.com/1993_10_17_nobsword_archive.html A Study of History]'''''
A Study of History is the 12-volume magnum opus of British historian Arnold J. Toynbee, finished in 1961. In this immensely detailed and complex work, Toynbee traces the birth, growth and decay of some 21 to 23 major civilizations in the world. These are: Egyptian, Andean, Sinic, Minoan, Sumerian, Mayan, Indic, Hittite, Hellenic, Western, Orthodox Christian (Russia), Far Eastern (Japan), Orthodox Christian (main body), Far Eastern (main body), Persian, Arabic, Hindu, Mexican, Yucatec, and Babylonic. There are four 'abortive civilizations' (Abortive Far Western Christian, Abortive Far Eastern Christian, Abortive Scandinavian, Abortive Syriac) and five 'arrested civilizations' (Polynesian, Eskimo, Nomadic, Ottoman, Spartan); thirty in all.
Toynbee applies his model to each of these civilizations, painstakingly detailing the stages through which they all pass: genesis, growth, time of troubles, universal state, and disintegration.
[[File:At_the_edge.jpg|right|frame]]
[[File:At_the_edge.jpg|right|frame]]
*'''''[http://books.google.com/books?id=2SkiAAAAMAAJ&q=william+irwin+thompson&dq=william+irwin+thompson&hl=en&ei=YygATYrALMqr8AbVq6CqBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CD4Q6AEwAw At the Edge of History]'''''
*'''''[http://books.google.com/books?id=2SkiAAAAMAAJ&q=william+irwin+thompson&dq=william+irwin+thompson&hl=en&ei=YygATYrALMqr8AbVq6CqBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CD4Q6AEwAw At the Edge of History]'''''
I won't give any more away as I don't wish to spoil the intellectual feast that awaits the reader. I urge anyone interested in the history of ideas and in understanding the changes taking place in the world around us to read Thompson, starting with this publication. Then work your way through the rest of his books. It's a journey that can change your worldview and your life.
I won't give any more away as I don't wish to spoil the intellectual feast that awaits the reader. I urge anyone interested in the history of ideas and in understanding the changes taking place in the world around us to read Thompson, starting with this publication. Then work your way through the rest of his books. It's a journey that can change your worldview and your life.
====Paleontology====
====Paleontology====
[[File:The_phenomenon_of_man.jpg|right|frame]]
[[File:The_phenomenon_of_man.jpg|right|frame]]