Convergence with Nature: A Daoist Perspective

In this book David E. Cooper explores our relationship to nature – to animals, to plants, to natural places – and asks how it can be shaped into an appropriate one which contributes to the good of people’s lives as a whole. Religions and philosophies have much to say about our relationship with nature, and Chinese Daoist philosophy has long been regarded as among those most sympathetic to the natural world. Daoists seek an attunement to the Dao (the Way) which is characterized by a sense of flow (water being a favourite metaphor), spontaneity, non-interference, humility and patience – virtues which contrast with the aggressive and exploitative values which characterize a modern world increasingly subject to economic imperatives. Like the best of contemporary nature writing, the classic Daoist texts reveal a yearning for convergence with nature, nostalgia for a lost intimacy with the natural world, disillusion with humanity or its products, and a feeling for nature’s mystery. The author explains how these attitudes are rooted in Daoist philosophy and explores their implications for our practical engagement with natural environments. He discusses, too, a number of ethical issues – including hunting, intensive farming, and environmental activism – that reflective people need to address in their efforts to heal our relationship with the Earth.

Table of Contents:
1    Orientation       Nature writing       Some modern moods       Philosophy’s roles   2    Why Daoism?       Nature and people in Chinese art       In a Daoist key       Daoist moods   3   Religion, technology, estrangement       Theology and ‘the ecological crisis’       A philosopher’s hut       Daoism, technology and estrangement       ‘Letting-be’   4    Estrangement, environmentalism and ‘otherness’       Rhetoric and reality       Nature’s ‘otherness’   5    Nature in Daoism       ‘Nature’: some connected senses       Nature as educator       Nature and virtue   6    On the Way (1): dao, world and unity       Dao, God, nature and nothing       Dao, experience and world       Self, world and the unity of things   7    On the Way (2): de, virtues and sages       De and the myriad things       ‘Profound de’ and human virtues       The Daoist sage   8     Mindfulness of nature        Mindfulness, disinterestedness and impartiality        Mirroring nature and ‘dirty glass’        Science and reverie   9     Nature, feeling and appreciation        Sober joy        Opposing moods        Enjoying natural beauty   10   Engaging with nature               Activity, engagement, intervention        Being outdoors        Engagement, environment and convergence        ‘The Daoist body’   11   Wilderness, wildness, wildlife        The wild        Wildlife and hunting        Guns, cameras, companions   12   Intervening in nature        Industry and technology        Agriculture        The Daoist garden   13   Intervening for nature?        Activism and virtue        Environmentalism and wu wei        Daoism and quietism   Notes Reading

About the Author :
David E. Cooper was Professor of Philosophy at Durham University for many years and has been a visiting professor at universities in the United States, Canada, Malta, Sri Lanka and South Africa. His philosophical interests range from environmental ethics to aesthetics, from the philosophy of language to Asian thought, from the history of philosophy to the philosophy of religion. His many books include Existentialism: A Reconstruction, World Philosophies: An Historical Introduction, The Measure of Things: Humanism, Humility and Mystery and A Philosophy of Gardens.

Review :
"Without over-burdening his text with quotations or references, and by writing in the first person, Cooper provides a succinct and readable guide through some of the meanings and implications of what he prefers to call Daodeism." -- Martin Spray, Ecos - A Review of Conservation.