Is Nature Ever Evil? by Willem B Drees

Is Nature Ever Evil? by Willem B Drees

Can nature be evil, or ugly, or wrong? Can we apply moral value to nature? From a compellingly original premise, under the auspices of major thinkers including Mary Midgley, Philip Hefner, Arnold Benz and Keith Ward, Is Nature Ever Evil? examines the value-structure of our cosmos and of the science that seeks to describe it. Science, says editor Willem B. Drees, claims to leave moral questions to aesthetic and religious theory. But the supposed neutrality of the scientific view masks a host of moral assumptions. How does an ethically transparent science arrive at concepts of a 'hostile' universe or a 'selfish' gene? How do botanists, zoologists, cosmologists and geologists respond to the beauty of the universe they study, reliant as it is upon catastrophe, savagery, power and extinction? Then there are various ways in which science seeks to alter and improve nature. What do prosthetics and gene technology, cyborgs and dairy cows say about our appreciation of nature itself? Surely science, in common with philosophy, magic and religion, can aid our understanding of evil in nature - whether as natural catasrophe, disease, predatory cruelty or mere cosmic indifference? Focusing on the ethical evaluation of nature itself, Is Nature Ever Evil? re-ignites crucial questions of hope, responsibility, and possibility in nature.

'.. a meaningful discussion of the human situation at the dawn of the 21st century.'

Drees, Willem B.: - Willem B. Drees is a philosopher of the humanities and of religion, a former academic dean, member of the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities (KHMW), recipient of two Fulbright Grants, and author of Beyond the Big Bang: Quantum Cosmologies and God (1990) and Religion, Science and Naturalism (1996).

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780415290616
ISBN 10	0415290619
Title	Is Nature Ever Evil?
Author	Willem B Drees
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Taylor & Francis Ltd
Year published	2002-11-28
Number of pages	358
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable