The Nature of Value and the Value of Nature: a Philosophical Overview

In an article exploring the philosophical issues raised by environmentalism, Ben Rogers argues for an alternative both to the narrowly economic and to an extravagantly mystical concept of Nature. Species and ecosystems, mountain ranges and mineral reserves have an intrinsic value in the sense that Nature moves and disturbs us independently of our concern for our own welfare or happiness. This analysis enables us to see the inadequacy of cost-benefit analysis, which treats natural goods as commodities. At the same time, recognizing that the natural environment has an intrinsic value does not in itself release us from the necessity of making difficult choices or from hard decisions as to what is and what is not 'natural'. One way of clarifying the place that Nature occupies in our scheme of values is by way of analogies with heirlooms, works of art and historic towns and cities. These analogies shed light on what it means to insist that natural goods are not commodities, but are something we hold in trust.     

Nature now and then

Science Incarnate: Historical Embodiments of Natural Knowledge. Edited by Christopher Lawrence and Steven Shapin (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1998) vii + 342 pp. $55.00 cloth, $15.25 paper.

Modern Environmentalism: An Introduction. By David Pepper (London: Routledge, 1996) viii +376 pp. £40 cloth, £13.99 paper.     

Colonization and the Commodification of Nature

This paper explores some of the theoretical issues surrounding the commodification of nature and its value as a research topic. In particular it examines the relationship between European colonization, the rise of capitalism and the increased use of abstract space. An appeal is also made for adding environmental history to the research agenda of historical archaeology. Case studies from South Africa and Virginia illustrate the manner in which abstract notions of space and the environment contributed to the commodification of nature. The Virginia case study from Jamestown Island provides a particularly vivid example of how micro- and macro-level environmental changes can be linked to important political and economic events.     

The Interaction of Nature and Society

The author reviews the material of his article on the Stalinist definition of the geographical environment [Soviet Geography, December 1963, pp. 3–19] in the light of L. F. Il'yichev's pronouncement on the unity of the natural and social sciences [Soviet Geography, April 1964, pp. 32–34]. Like V. A. Anuchin, Saushkin interprets the ll'yichev statement as encouraging more work on geographic synthesis that would integrate the findings of the specialized physical and economic geographic disciplines.     

英国近代前期无神论思想拾零

英国无神论思想是该国政治思想史上的重要内容,长期以来循序发展。其源头至少可溯至都铎王朝晚期,代表人物有伊丽莎白的近臣沃尔特.雷利爵士。在培根之后,霍布斯是17世纪批判上帝和基督教的典范。光荣革命前后不列颠无神论思想大致分为两种类型:洛克、休谟、边沁型——含蓄委婉地质疑上帝和基督教教义,以及托兰德、葛德文、雪莱型——直率无畏地抨击宗教的蒙蔽和虚伪。欧文的批评更是淋漓尽致。19世纪中叶科学文化的长足进步促成了信仰自由的社会局面,政教合一的政府体制渐被削弱。1886年布雷德洛事件的了结是英国政教合一体制明显松动的标志。     

Diderot on Nature and Pantomime

The article examines Diderot’s view of the inconstancy of nature and its corollaries, the most obvious of which is the recognition of the impossibility of philosophy and natural history. For, if everything in nature is in a state of flux, no theory can keep up with its changes, reflect on them and capture anything more than an isolated moment. Diderot’s conception of nature has important consequences for his aesthetic theory. If the goal of the fine arts is to imitate nature, and if everything in nature undergoes constant change, does it not mean that art—no less than philosophy and natural history—is also impossible? By focusing on Diderot’s novel Rameau’s Nephew (1805), I argue that the lesson of the numerous mimes its eponymous hero performs in the novel is that the dynamics of nature can perhaps only be captured by mime rather than on canvas or in stone, both of which, as Diderot puts it, can represent only a fleeting moment.     

Nature Conservation and Post-Industrial Landscapes

Abstract

Abandoned pits, quarries and industrial sites can provide new geological exposures as well as new sites for plants and animals to colonise. The range of environmental conditions associated with these sites can lead to the establishment of a range of habitats containing uncommon species and unusual biological communities. Disused railways, tramways and canals provide 'green corridors' whose ecological functions need further research but whose nature conservation, historical and social values are evident. The value of post-industrial landscapes to local communities lies both in their present form and in their links with the past. A key part of the redevelopment or reclamation of post-industrial sites should involve the retention of notable archaeological, geological and ecological features combined with habitat creation involving natural re-vegetation, colonisation and succession rather than quick greening or simple landscaping. The landscapes produced by the industrial age need to be conserved just as much as the landscapes derived from the agricultural age.     

Nature and Technology in History

This essay sketches an expanded theoretical conception of the roles of nature and technology in history, one that is based on a social ontology that does not separate nature and society. History has long been viewed as the realm of past human action. On this conception, nature is treated largely as an Other of history, and technology is construed chiefly as a means for human fulfillment. There is no history of nature, and the history of technology becomes the history of useful products. The essay discusses the changes wrought in these understandings by a social ontology that depicts social existence as inherently transpiring in nexuses of practices and material arrangements. The first implication is that the domain of history should be expanded from the realm and course of past human activity to the realm and course of past practice‐arrangement nexuses. In turn, this wider conception transforms the significance of nature and technology in history. Until recently, most accounts of the relationship between society/history and nature have presumed that society and history are separate from nature. On my account, by contrast, nature is part of society: a component of the practice—arrangement nexuses through which social life progresses. Human history, consequently, is a social—natural history that encompasses the varying presence and roles of nature in human coexistence. Technology, meanwhile, is not just useful products, and not just a mediator of society/history and nature. It also is (1) something through which humans manage social life and the nature that is part of it, largely by drawing nature into this site and thereby conjointly transforming society, technology, and nature in history; and (2) something that, over time, plays an increasingly central role in the nexuses where social life transpires. Through technology, in short, social—natural history takes form and advances.     

坐拥繁华商业与绿色自然

印象中的大型商业中心总是充满着现代气息,钢筋水泥混凝土密织成森林,寸土寸金繁华无尽.那么你有没有想过在城市中有这样的去处,我们踏一地花香,赏一城春色,在盛放的百花丛中逛街看景,在枝繁叶茂的森林里购物休闲,在小桥流水的环境中,感受商业空间与生态景观的融合.