Overview

Moral names are often flung at nature: good, beautiful, cruel, kind. From Noah's Flood to Shakespeare's stage, from anthropomorphic magic to religious concepts of creation and redemption, nature has been praised as a totem of order and hope, or cursed for its harshness, disorder and indifference. Culture has long imputed ethical and moral purpose to nature, though in tangled and contradictory ways. But can we in absolute scientific seriousness call nature evil - or good? Is life a dog-eat-dog affair, where value-judgements have no place, or can we demand an nature that 'ought', rather than one that 'just is'? If nature is dangerous, or haphazard, or faulty, can we hold morally to blame? And what can science-a universal but strangely neutral way of looking at the world- say on this matter? From a compellingly original premise, under the auspices of major thinkers including Mary Midgley, Philip Hefner, Arnold Benz and Keith Ward, Is Nature Ever Evil? examines the value-structure of our cosmos and of the science that seeks to describe it. What moral strategies can science give for understanding the human experience of our world? Science, says editor Willem B. Drees, claims to leave moral questions to aesthetic and religious theory. It rarely considers the nature of nature: it does not ask about evil. But the supposed neutrality of a scientific view masks a host of moral assumptions. How does an ethically transparent science arrive at concepts of a hostile' universe or a 'selfish' gene? How do botanists, zoologists, cosmologists and geologists respond to the beauty and ferocity of the universe they study, reliant as it is upon catastrophe, savagery, power and extinction? Then there are various ways in which science seeks to alter and improve nature, medically and technologically-to redefine nature's remit down to the smallest cells of the living frame. What do prosthetics and gene technology, cyborgs and dairy cows say about our appreciation of nature itself? Surely science, in common with philosophy, magic and religion, can aid our understanding of evil in nature-whether as natural catastrophe, disease, predatory cruelty or mere cosmic indifference? * Willem B. Drees, this vale of tears-the best of all possible worlds? * Mary Midgley , criticizing the cosmos * Peter Scheers human interpretation and animal excellence * Fred Spiers nature does not care indeed, but humans do: A commentary * Arnold Benz tragedy versus hope * Anne Kull exploring technonature with cyborgs Is Nature Ever Evil? marks a fascinating contemporary return to a persistent cultural debate, considering the different ways in which reality is understood between the disciplines of ethics, religion and science. Focusing on the ethical evaluation of nature itself, it re-ignites the wider questions of hope, responsibility and possibility in nature that these conflicts of value imply.

Full Product Details

Author:   Willem B. Drees
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 2.00cm , Length: 23.40cm
Weight:   0.657kg
ISBN:  

9780415290609

ISBN 10:   0415290600
Pages:   360
Publication Date:   05 December 2002
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Willem B. Drees, This vale of tears-the best of all possible worlds? Part I NATURE, SCIENCE AND VALUE Willem B. Drees, Nature, science and value: Introduction to Part I 1. Mary Midgley, Criticizing the cosmos 2. Silvia Völker, Response to Midgley's 'Criticizing the cosmos' 3. Hans Radder, Midgley on science, nature, metaphysics and ethics: Some comments 4. Joachim Leilich, Mind and value: Reflections on Max Weber 5.Tatjana Visak, The moral relevance of naturalness 6. Angela Roothaan, The experience of nature: A hermeneutic approach 7. Peter Scheers, Human interpretation and animal excellence Part II: EVIL EVOLUTIONAY JUSTIFIED? Willem B. Drees, Evil evolutionary justified? Introduction to Part II 8. Holmes Rolston, III, Naturalizing and systematizing evil 9. Jacobus J. de Vries, Cooperation or competition-comments on Rolston 10. Jozef Keulartz, Rolston: A Contemporary physico-theologian 11. Jan Smit, Are catastrophes in nature ever evil? 12 Arthur Petersen, Contingency and risk: Comment on Smit 13. Fred Spier, Nature does not care indeed, but humans do: A commentary 14. Claudia Sanides-Kohlrausch, The Lisbon Earthquake, 1755: A discourse about the 'nature' of nature 15 Arnold Benz, Tradegy versus hope: A theological response 17. Neil A. Manson, Cosmic fine-tuning, 'many universe' theories and the goodness of life Part III IMPROVING NATURE VIA CULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY? John H. Brooke, Improvable nature? 19. Leo P. ten Kate, Victims of nature cry out 20. Henk. G. Geertsema, 'Improvable nature?' Some meta-historical reflections 21. Kris Dierick, Is nature neutral? The concept of health 22 Philip Hefner, Nature good and evil: A theological palette 23. Wessel Stoker, Nature Good and Evil: A theological evaluation 24. Eduardo R. Cruz, The quest for perfection: Insights from Paul Tillich 25. Mathew Illathuparampil, Normativity of nature: Natural law in a technological lifeworld 26 Anne Kull, Exploring technonature with cyborgs Part IV VALUES AS EXPLANATIONS OR VALUES EXPLAINED? 27.Keith Ward, Two forms of explanation 28 Martien E. Brikman, Two forms of explanation: A response to Ward 29 Ronald Meester, Two forms of explanation: A response to Ward 30. Edwin Koster, The evaluation of natural reality: A watertight case? 31. Lindon B. Eaves, 'Ought' in a world that just 'is' 32 Angela Roothaan, What values guide our oughts? 33. Tatjana Visak, The Normative relevance of disputes in primatology 34. Nico van Straalen, Jair Stein, Evolutionary views of the biological basis of religion 35. Mladen Turk, On pattern recognition, evolution, epistemology, religion and evil.

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'... a meaningful discussion of the human situation at the dawn of the 21st century.'

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