Hope must be mixed with realism in our approach to the climate emergency, and in this book philosopher John Foster presents a revolutionary approach to our pressing need for a habitable human future.
In the teeth of climate emergency, hope has to remain possible, because life insists on it. But hope also has to be realistic. And doesn't realism about our plight point towards despair? Don't the timid politicians, the failed summits and the locked-in consumerism all just mean that we have left things far too late to avoid catastrophe?
There is a deeper realism of transformation which can keep life powerful within us. It comes at the price of accepting that our condition is tragic. That, in turn, calls for a harsher, more revolutionary approach to the demands of the emergency than most activists have yet been prepared to adopt.
This is a book to think with, to argue and disagree with - and to hope with.
By:
John Foster (Lancaster University; freelance writer and teacher) Imprint: Bristol University Press Country of Publication: United Kingdom Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
ISBN:9781529223262 ISBN 10: 1529223261 Pages: 206 Publication Date:17 February 2022 Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
General/trade
,
Undergraduate
,
ELT Advanced
Format:Hardback Publisher's Status: Unspecified
Introduction: Hope, Realism and the Climate Crisis 1. The Demands of Realism 2. Transformation? 3. Creating Possibility 4. Responsibility Beyond Morality 5. The Bounds of Utopia 6. Climate Crisis as Tragedy 7. On the Way to Revolution 8. The New Revolutionary Dynamic 9. The Vanguard of Hope
John Foster is a freelance philosopher and Honorary Teaching Fellow at Lancaster University.
Reviews for Realism and the Climate Crisis: Hope for Life
John Foster's book is an important work in environmental philosophy, taking the discipline in hitherto unexplored directions. Environmental Values