Christopher Carter – "The Philosophy of Ecology"

In David Keller's book "The Philosophy of Ecology", many important subjects are touched, mainly the subject of "humanizing" the Ecology. We give things names and "rate" them on size and condition. We say, "That tree is a good tree because it's large" and buy it because it will make a good Christmas tree. We rate nature and name everything in it so that we can identify with it. Keller says that this is disassociating us from Ecology, added on to the fact that we also characterize objects such as mountains and lakes by their "external relations", and not what they truly are. Also, at certain times and certain areas of the world we may think that a "flood" is a blessing, and some times, particularly in America recently, we think of it as a curse. Definitions of Ecology differ from place to place and there really isn't a "solid" definition of what's good and bad. If a volcano went off in New York City somehow, it would be terrible. But in some places around the world, even with the havoc it causes, it's a "sign" or a "gift" from the Gods and should be cherished. The mystery of our relationship with Ecology is touched in this book, and makes us thoroughly examine how we "rate" nature.