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Political Science General

Denaturalizing Ecological Politics

Alienation from Nature from Rousseau to the Frankfurt School and Beyond

by (author) Andrew Biro

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
Jul 2005
Category
General, Environmental Conservation & Protection
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780802080226
    Publish Date
    Jul 2005
    List Price
    $93.00
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780802037947
    Publish Date
    Jun 2005
    List Price
    $45.95
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442673830
    Publish Date
    Jul 2005
    List Price
    $93.00

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Description

The possibility of bringing the insights of modern political theory to bear on the problems of human ecology has long been plagued by disagreements over the category of nature itself. But with Denaturalizing Ecological Politics, Andrew Biro has found a way of rescuing environmentalism from the ideological trap of naturalism.

Biro develops an environmental political theory that takes seriously both the materiality of the ecological crises generated by industrial and post-industrial society and the anti-foundationalist critiques of ‘nature’ developed in postmodern social theory. He argues that the theoretical basis for ecological politics can be better advanced through the lens of alienation from nature, sidestepping some of the pitfalls of debates over conceptions of nature itself.

Biro traces the development of the concept of alienation from nature through four modern political thinkers – Rousseau, Marx, Adorno, and Marcuse – each of whom are read as arguing that human beings are not biologically separate from the rest of nature, but are nevertheless historically differentiated from it through the self-conscious transformation of the natural environment. In so doing, Biro provides the starting point for a ‘denaturalized’ rethinking of ecological politics.

About the author

Andrew Biro is an assistant professor and Canada Research Chair in the Department of Political Science at Acadia University.

Andrew Biro's profile page