Suchergebnisse

Large-scale protection of nature is needed to address the ecological crisis. Big animals are connected with this mandate: They are threatened worldwide; they play important ecological roles; and the vast areas they require support a host of lifeforms. But visionary conservation is not only a pragmatic necessity. It is an ethical imperative, for comprehensive nature protection and restoration that supports the good life for all. The story of Asian elephants is part of this bigger story. We must find compassionate ways to free captive elephants and restore a world in which they, and countless others, may live free and flourish.

Argues that the narrow focus on anthropogenic climate change in the environmental discourse may actually worsen the planetary predicament by restricting proposed solutions to the technical realm. Although the dangers of climate change are real, representing it as the most urgent problem detracts attention from the planet's ecological predicament as a whole & overshadows such equally important issues as the mass extinction of species, devastation of the oceans by industrial fishing, & endocrine disruption. An examination of the many ways the climate-change discourse promotes the continued marginalization of the biodiversity crisis emphasizes that not only does biodepletion significantly predate dangerous greenhouse-gas buildup, but a technological resolution of global warming may temporarily avert some of the losses but will not stop the critical loss of biodiversity. Dangers related to the fatalism & apocalyptic imagery that surrounds mainstream environmentalism are pointed out, along with the need for a radical critique of the industrial-consumer complex that is turning the world into "an orgy of exploitation, overproduction, & waste.". J. Lindroth

English In this article, I investigate naturalist and musicologist Len Howard's form of knowledge of bird life. Examining her presentations closely, I show that her methodology of intimate cohabitation with and observation of her subjects resulted in a unique documentary: a deeply personal and highly privileged understanding of wild birds. I approach Howard's focus on bird individuality through Martin Buber's lens of the reciprocity of I-and-Thou. I argue that intimacy with the birds of her garden yielded insights into their mindful world, delivering knowledge which pejorative characterizations of "anecdotal" and "anthropomorphic" fail to appreciate. I conclude by examining Howard's work in the context of the behavioral science of her day and by posing the question of whether her contribution is or is not science. French Dans cet article l'auteur analyse les formes de connaissance de la vie animale de la naturaliste et musicologue Len Howard. En examinant de très près son travail, l'auteur montre que sa méthodologie de cohabitation intime et d'observation de ses sujets a résulté en une documentation unique: une compréhension profondément personnelle et hautement privilégiée des oiseaux sauvages. L'auteur approche le point de vue de Howard par le biais de la lecture de Martin Buber de la réciprocité du Je-et- Tu. L'auteur montre que son intimité avec les oiseaux de son jardin révèle des aspects de leur monde "intelligent" et une connaissance que les qualificatifs d'"anecdotique" et "anthropomorphique" échouent à apprécier. L'auteur conclut en examinant le travail de Howard dans le contexte de la science du comportement de son époque et en posant la question de savoir si sa contribution est, ou non, de la science.

In this paper I investigate the scientific understanding of the honeybee dance language. I elucidate the implicit and explicit reasons why the honeybees' communication system has been referred to as a 'language', and examine the ways this designation has entangled the themes of animal mind and human– animal continuity. I end with an investigation of a scientific controversy surrounding the honeybee dance language. I argue that this controversy was a battle over assumptions regarding insect capacities, and a willingness or unwillingness to abandon those assumptions in the face of a phenomenon that undermined them.

This paper is an investigation into naturalists' understanding of animal life, focusing specifically on the turn-of-the-century naturalists George and Elizabeth Peckham, and Jean Henri Fabre. It argues that these authors apply what social scientists call the `Verstehen' method to the study of animals, in that they approach animal action as evidencing a subjective, experiential perspective. The presuppositions and forms of evidencing and reasoning of the naturalist genre are analyzed, and their effects on the portrayal of animals are elucidated, by looking closely at the particular authors. The paper ends by examining the connection between the form of knowledge of animal life embedded in naturalist studies, and the question of anthropomorphism.