Divided Natures: French Contributions to Political Ecology

In this book Kerry Whiteside introduces the work of a range of French ecologicaltheorists to an English-speaking audience. He shows how thinkers in France and in English-speakingcountries have produced different strains of ecological thought and suggests that the work of Frenchecological theorists could lessen pervasive tensions in Anglophone ecology.Much of the theorywritten in English is shaped by the debate between anthropocentric ecologists, who contend that thevalue of our nonhuman surroundings derives from their role in fulfilling human interests, andecocentric ecologists, who contend that the nonhuman world holds ultimate value in and of itself.This debate is almost nonexistent among French theorists, who tend to focus on the processes linkingnature and human identity. Whiteside suggests that the insights of French theorists could helpEnglish-language theorists to extricate themselves from endless debates over the real center ofnature’s value.Among the French theorists discussed are Denis de Rougemont, Denis Duclos, RenéDumont, Luc Ferry, André Gorz, Félix Guattari, Bruno Latour, Alain Lipietz, Edgar Morin, SergeMoscovici, and Michel Serres. The English-language theorists discussed include John Barry, RobynEckersley, Robert Goodin, Tim Hayward, Holmes Rolston III, and Paul Taylor.