Ethics Books

Phillips and Benner have edited nine narratives written on "redesigning the structures and processes of our public caregiving institutions in order to better facilitate practices of caring," (vii) an excellent resource for those in the helping professions and for those who care. The narratives are actual circumstances with real people who practice within the caring professions. The authors invite the reader to examine the narratives in terms of the practices of care illustrated by them (vii). Because the narratives are written by practitioners and theorists who are experts in their field (10), each has spoken out against the objectification and commodification of persons and practices that mask contemporary helping professions (11).
These are examples of the experts. Robert Bellah, a sociologist, argues for a rich, interpersonal world as he pleads for Americans to listen and see, by adopting an ethic of responsibility, of moral discourse, instead of control and commodification (13).
Patricia Benner, a professor of physiological nursing, advocates that, "effective caregiving requires more than intent or sentiment. It requires skill and knowledge and being in relation with others in ways that foster mutuality, empowerment, and growth" (45).
As a pastor and theology professor, Eugene H. Peterson describes the difference between genuine caring and control veiled as caring. Dr. Peterson believes that we are meant to open out toward our neighbors and open upward towards God, and that we can be whole and healthy humans only to the degree that we do this (69).
Pediatrician E. Dawn Swaby-Ellis states that "whatever the competing factions my challenge is the same: to be effective, efficient, and empathic" (84). Furthermore, she believes that caring for patients must come out of true concern and love for them (90). Her personal caring relationship with her patients was deeply validated by her exposure to the biopsychosocial model proposes by George Engel and expanded by Paul Tournie to include the spiritual dimension. Although, Dr. Swaby-Ellis praises many of her teachers, she declares the Holy Spirit to be her greatest teacher. "It is one thing to be a Christian who wishes to live a life of obedience to God by showing love to mankind. It is another thing to integrate our faith into the fabric of our being so that our actions mirror our spiritual belief" (93).
To Anna Richert, an educator, all teaching practice must help kids to grow through caring. Although there are increasing challenges and dangers educators deal with daily as they attempt to care by teaching in urban chaos, still "children need care and they also need to learn to care for one another. Ultimately they need to learn to care for themselves" (109). I agree with Richert that fundamental to teaching children to care is the fact that children "need to feel and be safe" which includes "needing to trust others, and having a sense that others believe in them" (109).

Insightful, humane, challenging, reflective, and practical are words that describe, The Crisis of Care: Affirming and Restoring Caring Practices in the Helping Professions, edited by Susan Phillips and Patricia Benner. The nine chapters followed the format of a story narrative followed by a pertinent and complimentary discourse. Phillips wrote: "Teaching, nursing, medicine, psychotherapy, and pastoral ministry are written of from the inside in terms of excellent practice" (vii). Inevitably, "care is relational, creating more than we expect and at other times showing us the limits of `helping'" (10).
Phillips' book is a positive example of how ritual and relationship can fuse to embrace the unique personhood of students, patients, clients, and parishioners; thereby, humanizing what has been viewed as merely objective clinical processes and procedures. The distinguished practitioners and scholars who contributed stories and essays are to be commended for their efforts in providing authentic care themselves and in sharing their insights.
The stories are powerful. A Holocaust descendant's anxiety is relieved because the psychotherapist heard with an inner ear, the patient's real and heretofore unexpressed need. Attention to the not said and the unseen on the part of the caregiver is of terrific value when providing care. An abortion case is reviewed with some of the multiplicity of implications that are involved. "Sammy," a six years old Amish boy, kicked by a mule, is restored to health. The preparation of a simple meal and the opportunity to learn the history of an African-American woman's family (Ambrosia Jones) helped pave a road to recovery. Death by choice in a chapter of the same name is provocative. Blake's story is about the unattractive child. It presents the compassionate value of a mother's love, and reveals a doctor's openness to in-seeing and in-hearing, and thereby some profound learning occurs. Mrs. Clark's paralysis and the visiting male nurse's ritual and relationship pastoral care story are inspiring.
The insights are powerful. Benner wrote: "If we were able to replace our disease care system with caring practices that foster illness prevention and health promotion so that clinical wisdom could be fostered from caregivers and receivers alike, we would alter dramatically how we are spending our health care dollar" (59). Eugene Peterson described the pastor's task: "Pastors identify God in the action, God in the language" (74). Peterson's challenge was to learn when to care, and not to care. The Atlanta, Georgia pediatrician, Dr. E. Dawn Swaby-Ellis learned: "My greatest teacher in learning how to care has been the Holy Spirit" (93). Clinical Psychologist Mima Baird echoed the sentiment by contributing: "To care is to listen; to hear is to care" (96). Teacher Anna Richert noted that it lies within the ability to make authentic connections that the capacity for care is enhanced, and by implication, the significant educable moment can be realized. Professor Joel Green draws attention in his summary statement: "Just as we know the character of God only in the concreteness of our lives, especially within the community of God's people, so we recognize the threads and hues of human reflection of God's character only in the fabric of social life in the everyday world" (165).
Quickly paced, tightly written, and imaginative stories, and longer, but nevertheless interesting reflections and observations, make The Crisis of Care an excellent addition to every caregivers memory storehouse and personal library.

The Crisis of Care is an insightful examination of the state of care in the helping professions. The editors argue: "... that examining our exemplary caring relationships can prompt us to redesign the structures and processes of our public caregiving institutions in order to better facilitate practices of caring" (1994:vii). Utilizing essays from practioners and scholars, the editors have collected narratives and scholarly discourses that address the practice of care in various helping fields and from the perspective of various academic disciplines. While the reader may not fully agree with positions taken by various writers concerning such issues as euthanasia, abortion, and the philosophic basis of ethics, the writing on the whole is good. The narratives frequently touch a sentimental chord. One good example is W. Thomas Boyce's "Beyond the Clinical Gaze" (1994:144-148). Eugene H. Peterson's essay "Teach us to Care and not to Care" is brilliant (1994:66-79). Peterson challenges the reader to not defile the holy. Joel B. Green's essay "Caring as Gift and Goal: Biblical and Theological Reflections" was also outstanding (1994:149-167). Green covered much biblical and theological ground clearly and with keen insight. Robert N. Bellah's "Understanding Caring in Contemporary America" was awesomely insightful (1994:21-35). He explores the themes of placing caring over exploitation and placing attention over distraction.
While, to me, some of the narratives and essays were not as excellent as those I mentioned, on the whole the book is worth reading. I recommend it.

A review by Eric Newell
April 10, 2002
The Crisis of Care is moving away from the technological, managerial aspect of caring. The need is to restore the concern and compassion for the need of the care receiver. Persons care for the wrong reasons. If it is not the aspect of filling the prescribed attention to a patient, very often there is the one who is interested to help or assist because they feel a sense of moral commitment or the sense that it will make them feel good. The editors quote Wuthnow's survey report that 42% of Americans were interested giving themselves for the benefit of others. The percentage dropped to 15% when asked if they were willing to sacrifice to help another person." (1994, p.23)
"From the time we were children, we were told by our parents and our grammar school teachers to "Pay Attention!" Even though we have grown inured to this injunction and shrug it off, there are few things in life more important." (1994, p. 28) Restoring those concerns for the individual, the context of their situation and what it is that needs to be protected for the care receiver is important.
Steven Covey in his writing cautioned against responding to the "Tyranny of the Urgent". In "The Crisis of Care," the chapter, "Teach Us to Care and Not to Care," says the caregiver who offers standardized responses to the needs or responds to that which gives only immediate relief, is not giving the full extent of care. There needs to be the caregiver who is will not only to pray for the receiver only, as an immediate answer to the problem, but who is willing to take the time to teach the receiver how to pray. This awareness of how to pray helps the person begin to understand that value can be found even in the experience of their suffering.
Creating a context of care, listening and reducing isolation are all important in care giving. It is not enough to know the facts about a person or even the facts about their situation. The concern is that one knows the issues and reasons, which surround those facts. This is important whether it involves the student in the school or the patient wrestling with the quality of life. "From a theological standpoint, any notions of caring we might have grow out of our divine vocation, to reflect in our lives together in the world the character of God, manifest in his covenant love, (the compassionate behavior of God)."
Phillips and Benner blend the use of narrative, dialogue and instruction to emphasize the strengths and weaknesses in present day care giving. The reoccurring issues of finding the context, the willingness to listen and the autonomy of the care receiver emphasize the point of the writing that care giving needs to move beyond the mechanical and technological response.

I read this book benefited from it unexpectedly much.Although it is very concise,it has the power of delivering complex and striking ideas.The language used in the book is easy to understand whereas it has a high literary value.After reading this book,one will have the chance of rebuilding a new mind-conception for her/himself which can elevate him up to a real humane level.

The writings in this book are droplets of perfect wisdom and sincerity. If we can apply those criteria in our lives, not only the world would be like a paradise for everybody, but also we will have the eternal paradise. The audience of the book is everybody who wants to have happiness both in this world and in eternal world.

The most brilliant thoughts about spiritual life, personal life and society in forms of couple sentence quotations. I enjoyed a lot.
A must for anybody who thinks: "Where are we going with this youth?" You should advise it to your young relatives or friends.

Everybody must read tis book, and follow those criterias mentioned on this book at their own life. If these criterias come into peoples life, we will find missing world.

Bender offers the following reformulation of the deep ecology platform. He believes the platform's language should be forthright about deep ecology's debt to ecology, hence also its biological nondualism. At the same time, since there are many paths to deep ecology, if you accept some, but not all of the points, you are to that extent still a supporter of the deep ecology movement. Bender takes into account some of Naess's 1993 reflections and his own earlier arguments. The following are proposed nondogmatically, or, as Naess now suggests, as a set of abstract, general statements that most supporters of the deep ecology movement might accept.

Proposed New Deep-Ecology Platform

1. Everything on earth is both interdependent and transient.
2. Each species' self-realization requires and contributes to that of all others.
3. Nonhumans do not exist for humans' sake.
4. Continued evolution without catastrophic setback requires the preservation of biodiversity, especially at the genetic and ecosystemic levels.
5. Other things being equal, human action is justifiable when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and complexity of the biotic community; it is wrong when it tends otherwise.
6. Present human interference with the nonhuman world is excessive and rapidly worsening.
7. Significant reduction of human impact requires first doing no further harm, then protecting and restoring biodiversity, wild-' ness, and evolution.
8. Deep ecology supporters encourage the deep questioning if human happiness, progress, and technology as commonly .1 defined. The necessary changes include deliberately and humanely lowering the human population, redesigning the global economy, adopting low-impact technology, and changing personal lifestyles as required for ecological sustain- ability.
9. Ecological sustainability also requires peace and justice throughout the world, and recognition that quality-of-life is about more than material standard of living. Especially in the poorest countries, social justice and long-term ecological sustainability are equally necessary, if people's material, self-preservation, rootedness, and spiritual-growth needs are to be met.
10. Those who subscribe to these points have an obligation directly or indirectly to try to carry out the necessary changes. Though the platform's applications vary considerably, in general deep ecology supporters work for local self-sufficiency and autonomous cooperation, and against centralization of power, exploitation of the weak, and corporate-controlled economic globalization.

The platform, in short, poses a counteroffer to the culture of extinction, outlining numerous possibilities for engagement for those who take nondualism, ecology, ecocide, or overshoot seriously. Thus, deep ecology is potentially a solution, not only to ecocide, but to nihilism.

I would say that anyone who has a serious theoretical interest in deep ecology and Green theoretical issues should have a copy of this expensive book. The book is important for the philosophy of deep ecology, and the radical environmental and deep Green political movements. Bender wants to help "draw millions to deep ecology."
This book has forced me to look at the evolution of deep ecology, as reflected in the writings of Arne Naess, in a new, supportive yet more critical manner. For Bender, the distinguishing characteristic of deep ecology is "nondualism" (what we would perhaps call ecocentricism). He argues that Naess has moved away from this nondualist position as reflected in the original 1972 statement and also become more apolitical.
It has a thoughtful and very interesting discussion of Bender's own "ecosophy", named after the place where he wrote much of his book. His book concludes with a ten-point "Proposed New Deep-Ecology Platform" which incorporates his critique.
Bender is a professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado and was, according to book cover information, the editor of _The Communist Manifesto: A Norton Critical Review_; _The Betrayal of Marx_; and _Karl Marx: The Essential Writings_. What is interesting for me is that such a substantive book on deep ecology has been written by someone who very definitely considers himself part of the Left. Bender now takes his place alongside other Left deep ecologists who have books out, like Richard Sylvan, Andrew McLaughlin and Andrew Dobson.
Bender wants to reformulate deep ecology and we all need to pay attention to what he is telling us. I did find the book on the abstract side. Overall however, this book is a wonderful achievement and will help us all move forward on the deep ecology path.

In this book, Bender has managed to pull together ideas that might be seen by some as difficult to reconcile -- recent scientific research, deep ecology, general systems theory, nondualist spirituality, and leftist political activism -- to create one of the most stimulating works that I have read in a long time.

Written for the academic, but geared to present a total picture, The Culture of Extinction is an in-depth look at what we have created on this planet and what we can expect if we do not listen to this writer and others who are shouting as loud as they can. Excellent for the classroom.

I read this book almost 33 years ago (in the fall of 1968), as one of seven books required for a Humanities class taught at Santa Rosa Junior College by Rabbi Tripp (sic?). I was astonished by the significance of James H. Breasted's thesis, the empirical support for his argument, the cogency of his presentation, and the truly impressive quality of his engaging, erudite, and entirely engrossing style of composition. In brief, Breasted argues (and substantiates with his close attention to ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics and other forms of evidence)that a truly moral conception of the human condition (and the foundations of conscience)emerged first in Egypt, profoundly influencing the Hebrews, who proceeded to moralize the universe. Breasted traces the dawn of conscience to Egypt. Through the (great many) years since then, Breasted's work has repeatedly come to mind, both for the significance of his thesis and the quality of his writing. Because of this, I decided to check with AMAZON.COM to see if Breasted's wonderful book is still available. It was with great surprise that I found that Philip Myhre has written a (properly adulatory)review of this great book only a little more than a month ago, and that his home town is practically next door. Since this indicates that others might seek out this valuable book, I add my assessment: Read this book. You will not forget it.

"I found that the Egyptians had possessed a standard of morals far superior to that of the Decalogue over a thousand years before the Decalogue was written," (J. H. Breasted, the Forward)



The Dawn of Revelation:
J. H. Breasted, has translated and compared word to word many Psalms and Proverbs to their suspected origins of Ancient Egyptian Hymns and wisdom. After his radical discoveries, he confessed his own feelings, "When that experience began, it was a dark day for my inherited respect for the theological dogma of revelation."
Breasted's analysis and assessments of early Egyptian social idealism and religion-including the teachings of Amenemope and lkhnaton, the ka and the ha, Egypt's influence on the Hebrews, are exposed into this marvelous book.

Egyptian Popular Wisdom:
The story of the Eloquent Peasant, is a vivid illustration of Ancient Egyptian social justice. A simple citizen Khun-Anup, a peasant who lived in Arsenoe in lower middle Egypt, four thousands years ago, who strove to obtain justice. This story captured the imagination of Egyptologists and sociologists. James H. Breasted's account is most fascinating even than the originals of, "The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant."

Hymn to the Sun:
This outstanding American Orientalist/Egyptologist, compared the 'Hymn to the Sun' written by Pharaoh Akhenaten, Ca 1300 BC, with Psalm 104 of the Hebrew Psalms, showing the striking parallels;
"Thou alone hast created the world according to Thy wishes,
with men and their herds and flocks,
together with all wild creatures that are on the earth,
and that go upon the rivers,
and that soar through the air above us on their wings.
How splendid are all the works of Thy mind,
Thou Lord of Eternity.
On earth all things are accomplished at a nod of Thy head,
for Thou are the Creator.
Thou alone are life, for man lives but through Thee."

Sayings of Amenemope:
In his same book 'The Dawn of Conscience,' Breasted gives parallels between prophet Jeremiah, who lived in Egypt for sometime, and ancient sayings of a Amenemtope. Professor Lange of Copenhagen was a pioneer in comparing the teachings of the Egyptian moralist Amenemope (Tenth Century BC), before any of the Old Testament was written, with the Book of Proverbs. Archaeologists now know that his sayings were translated into Hebrew, and read by the Jewish scribes, before it found its way into Proverbs 22.17 to 24.22*. I here quote the NRSV Harper Collins study Bible, "The sayings of the Wise*, makes a free adaptation from the popular Egyptian wisdom text, The Instruction of Amenemtope."

James Henry Breasted:
J. H. Breasted was one of the most widely known members of the University of Chicago faculty, a popularizer and textbook writer as well as America's first teacher of Egyptology. His field of work also captured the attention of religious-minded philanthropists like John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Breasted's discoveries and purchases of artifacts helped shape the American image of past civilizations.
Trained in Egyptian, Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic at Yale under William Rainey Harper, and in Berlin, Breasted's interest in ancient cultures drew him first to Egypt and then to Mesopotamia. Ancient Records of Egypt, published in 1906, was a five-volume work that contained his English translation of the most important Egyptian historical texts held in Europe at that time. (The University of Chicago Centennial Catalogues)

Our ancient selves:
On the turn of the millennium, Naguib Mahfouz, the Nobel laureate, wrote under this heading; "Aside from art and monotheism, we must not overlook the ethical framework of whose birth ancient Egypt was the first witness. In my youth I read a delightful book -- perhaps it was Breasted's 'The Dawn of Conscience' -- that deals with this issue, the writer stating that human conscience first emerged in Egypt. I feel strongly, almost instinctively, that this is true.
Egyptian civilization was beyond any doubt a great culture that encompassed the entire ancient world. The fact that we may have come to know it once more through the mediation of Western explorers and scientists does not make it any less ours. How could it be? It is the heritage of all humanity.

A book of striking impact:
As a teen, half a century ago, in Alexandria, Egypt, my dad used to provoke my thinking with inspiring narratives, which were Amenope's, but had echo in the book of proverbs," have I not written to thee 'thirty,' wherein are counsels and knowledge? (Prov. 22:20) He intended to teach me that wisdom is from the Lord, his revelation as Jesus was spoken of in the eighth chapter of the same book, "For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord" (Prov. 8:35)
James H. Breasted wrote before 70 years, "The Book of Proverbs shows clearly that the Hebrew translator or editor appropriated the ideas chiefly and developed them with penetrating insight into life and superb literary skill, often in language largely his own."

Conscience and Revelation:
"When that experience began, it was a dark day for my inherited respect for the theological dogma of 'revelation.' I had more disquieting experience before me, when as a young Orientals I found that the Egyptians had possessed a standard of morals far superior to that of the Decalogue over a thousand years before the Decalogue was written," from the Forward by J. H. Breasted.
That is why for me the interpretation of Jesus Christ, "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets," not only genius but miraculously inspired.
J. H. Breasted was my instructor in biblical Criticism, because truth will set you free.

If you only read one book about ancient Egypt this is it. The morals, the thoughts, the heart of the ancients are here on display. It is a book published long ago but the content is as fresh as if it were published today. If you are interested in Egyptian thought and the incredible civilization and culture they produced, this is a book that must be read.

Arthur McGill is a relative unknown in American theology.

His works have mostly been consigned to the "out-of-print" stacks. A quick Google search for "Arthur McGill" turns up only 1700 results, while Google Scholar weighs in at a whopping 47 and Google blogsearch turns up 7 results, 5 of which don't have to do with the author.

Imprecise measurements of a person's relative popularity, to be sure, but indicative nonetheless. McGill is firmly lodged in the back of the theology closets, piled behind tomes better known thinkers.

But popularity is no indicator of value, and in Death and Life: An American Theology, Arthur McGill has composed a gem that is worth serious reflection by theologians and laypersons alike.

This relatively short work--95 pages--is broken into two parts. In the first, McGill analyzes America's attitudes toward death, where death means not the biological end of man, but rather the "losing of life, that wearing away which goes on all the time." In the second, he articulates what he takes to be the Biblical understanding of death in this broader sense. Throughout, he is poetic and provocative as he works to tease out how American Christianity has been co-opted by a secular view of death and the resurrection.

His first section, while interesting, is simultaneously stimulating and problematic. He argues that the American view of "life" means "having." It is "always optimistic, always affirmative." Death is, in this sense, a disruption, a mangling of the normal. Poverty, sickness, disease and unanswered needs are abnormal and accidental. Wealth is a fundamental state of mind, not simply a fact. As a result, we work hard to become what McGill calls "the bronze people," people who maintain the appearance of life without having the substance of it. In doing so, we avoid the fundamental reality of sin and pain, a reality that is "intolerable." "The world is awful," writes McGill, "but Americans do not usually say so."

McGill is almost right on this point. Reality is not awful--goodness is. It is goodness that we hate and avoid, a tactic which drives us to believe that the perversion is the deepest reality when it is still a perversion. The world is not awful--it is good, but the sort of good that is demands the redemption and defeat of sin. Sin is the lesser reality--goodness the higher.

While equally provocative, McGill's second section is somewhat more successful. Despite continuing his error of making sin "a matter...of our basic identity," McGill demonstrates how Jesus' identity comes from outside of himself and how as Christians, we must "die" and discover that our identity comes from outside of ourselves, from God. We must let go of the "tecnique of having," of possessing ourselves and cultivate a posture of gratitude and acknowledgment that our being is in God, not in us.

What compels us to possess ourselves, our possessions and our relationships? The fear of death, in which we refuse to acknowledge that all that we have is God's, not ours. This fear of death is conquered in the resurrection which "discredits one fearful possibility--that perhaps there is some fatality in the world, or some historical agency, some cosmic necessity or some other power which will disengage us from God's constituing love, which will establish itself as the source of our identiy, and which will thus give us an identity that will be marked by loss, disintegration, and death."

What does having an "ecstatic identity" look like? For one, it is a position of worship to the Father. Because the Father "engenders and communicates life," He is worthy of worship. It is in the death of Jesus that the Father is glorified. John 15:8 claims that the Father is glorified by the bearing of "fruit," which is what happens when Jesus dies on the cross. It is as a result of this self-giving act that Jesus is to be worshipped. When we acknowledge our own position of dependance and need, then we are prepared to worship the Father and the Son, whose "identity does not depend on and does not consist in the life which he holds onto and the life which he offers....Without detriment to his true self, [Jesus] can give away everything of himself."

It is at this point that McGill demonstrates how the message of Scripture is in tension with the spirit of our age. If we are to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, we must give out of our abundance to the point where we too are in need, as it is in his position of need and dependance that the Son glorifies the Father and the Father glorifies the Son. In perhaps the most personally challenging part of McGill's work, he argues that the love of neighbor demands the impoverishment of ourselves--that we have more in order to give more away, even to the point of poverty.

McGill's work is never perfect--he is at points repetitive and at other points obscure. His notion of "reality" could be improved significantly by the resources of Augustinian or Thomistic thought. At points I wanted him to be more clear in his writing. But the subtitle "An American Theology" perfectly captures is project in this work. By setting his theologizing in the context of American beliefs and values, he attempts to convict the reader as much as instruct. In this, he is highly successful.

McGill's work seems to be forgotten, but it should not be. By approaching Christianity and our culture through the lens of death, he is able to drive beneath the surface of our lives to the heart of our fears, our desires and our actions. Death and Life: An American Theologyis 95 pages of theologizing that is worth any Christian's time.

This book is absolutely amazing, as the other reviewers have already pointed out. I would like to add that the book is a pretty easy read and does not require a great deal of prerequisite theological knowledge, so it is accessible even to new explorers of the Christian faith. That doesn't mean it sacrifices content; the book offers fresh insights for even the well-educated Christian.

My one problem with the book is that the argument for his diagnosis of what he calls the "bronze people" is somewhat weak and not entirely convincing. The second part of the book, however, where he begins to discuss the idea of a decentralized and dispossed identity, is very good and makes up for all the deficiencies in the first part.

This book offers fresh ways to think about the nature of sin, worship, atonement, and other concepts central to the Christian faith. I only wish that someone would expand on the ideas presented here.

This thin book is packed with unique insights about how American society "worships death" by giving death and growing old the ultimate power over almost everything we do. McGill argues that we must live from an "ecstatic identity," receiving all as gift and grace, even suffering and death. He writes this book like a novel, with multiple references to pop culture and literature to make his point. One of the best, most challenging theology books I have ever read for a general population. Enjoy!

If there is anything negative to say about this book it is its length, which is just long enough to tantalize without fully going into a system of analysis. As the other reviewers have already noted, McGill critiques traditional metaphysics that understand life and being as essentially "persistance," or form (eidos). In fact, though not explicitly mentioned, McGill thinks that systems of metaphysics or ontology that are set up a priori and then used to analyze the cross always come up empty. And rightly so, because if the Christian system is correct, then the magnitude of the ontology of the Cross shows that if "existence" or "man" or "God," are to mean anything, they will only mean what they mean in relation to this event. So that, while we may take a traditional stance and attempt to ontologize the cross with it, if the cross and the crucifixion are true, then they will modify the traditional conception.

This is indeed the result that McGill sees. He doesnt consider "being," or "life," as persistance, or inherently opposed to death, but rather all forms of existence include death within them. That is to say, my existence in relation to God is continual only becuase I continue to recieve myself from God at every moment (what McGill and others like Pannenberg term ek-stasis or ecstatic relationality, essentially recieving onesself from outside the self from others) In fact, the ultimate irony is if I attempt to procure security for my continued existence I break the cycle of continual recieving, and so ironically in an attempt of self-preservation, I have eliminated the very possibility.

McGill takes this conclusion from Christ's life, seeing in Christ's self-consciousness not conciousness of himself per se, but immediately of the Father, so that in knowing Himself He knows immediately God. Christ then comes to die (McGill adopts the Johannine Christic quotation that a seed must die to bare fruit) peacefully giving himself, so the essential power and life of God is in self giving/self-recieving to communicate and engender life. Hence the very basis of self-identity is self-dispossession and constant recieving, rather than hypostatically contained being.

McGill contrasts this to what he calls "The Bronze People," namely those in society who attempt frantically for perpetual youth through beauty products. In this instance McGill rightly notes that the irony of this position is that it is inherently negative rather than positive. What he means by that is "perpetual youth," is not so much a positive attribute (i.e. being actually perpetually young) as much as it is a deliberate self-deception and avoidance.

In fact, this frames what McGill sees as the technique of "having," and the method of "avoidance," that is, when problems arise we attempt to secure our identity against change by taking into our posession goods and things and skills that we have "power," over and so may cope with disaster. Hence part of our consumer ethos is undeniably based upon a type of anxiety that seeks identity as self-posession or inherent wealth (McGill disturbingly notes the economic metaphores that go along even with love, e.g. I must "attract," someone, that is, I must have inherent wealth to be attractive to them) This is, of course, disasterous that we even teach our children that failure is merely incidental rather than essential, so that they themselves engender this idea of trying harder to achieve sucess, or knowledge, or whatever object/idea may be utilized to guard against failure and death.

Even further, he traces an conceptual path that links two commonly held and represented notions of death: 1.) that death itself is a type of hypostasis, that is an entity, obscure and cryptic, that kills and strikes at us, he terms this the "demonic," view of death. Secondly, it seems taking a cue from Niel Postman's "Amuzing Ourselves to Death," that the 2.) view is that death is represented (especialyl by the media) as inherently unexpected and unnatural (hence the bronze peoples strive to avoid perpetual signs of decay...it is telling how plastic surgery, cosmetics, and fashion are at an all time high. Not necessarily that these are bad in themselves or generally, merely that they reflect a certain socio-economic belief system.)

Briefly, I did have some problems with this book. Firstly, as another reviewer poited out, McGill's analyses of the Bronze People is not entirely convincing, and it seems to certain extents that McGill is almost deluding himself as to the actual intensity of his descriptions of this ignorance of death's inherent part of life. This may or may not be due to the fact that it was written almost twenty years ago (at least the original essays) and so media conceptions of death, with 9/11, and the many tsunamis and hurricanes, that death is now becoming more of a regularity in life. There could be other sociological factors as well, but the main point is, is that despite the profundity of the analysis, it must be taken with a grain of salt.

My second criticism is (although based on a minute portion of his book) based upon what almost seems to be a critique of the church's buying into this idea of "avoidance," that the marks of death should be removed and resisted from situations where they are present. Now, in light of the rest of McGill's argument,s this does make some sense, and the church (viz a viz McGills understanding of being and life) should approach other need not with a position of faux "un-neediness" that is, as an entity with all the answers, but rather with humility and expression of its humble need. That said, McGill's criticism is ambiguous at best, and I for one had trouble with mcGill's conception of just what the church should look like. Should we not erase signs of decay? Should we not engender some inherent value? Does not now Christ and His Spirit dwell in us so that despite our neediness we now have a center of inherent value that at the same time is constantly recieived?

This brings me to my third criticism. It seems that McGill has somewhat overstated his position on ecstatic identity, that is constantly recieving ourselves from another. This is, of course, a brilliant theory when taken moderately. However there are certain times when McGill seems to have the person devolve into merely a passive relation of need.

It seems implausible on many grounds that we merely constantly recieve ourselves from God because just who is recieving if the act of recieving is the full extent of our identity? Do we not have to precede this giving to some extent in order to recieve at all? McGill's implicit answer is that since God so irreducibly precedes us that His act of Giving posits us as a being that recieves, so that we would not have to precede the constant act of recieving because our priority over recieving is itself gift that cannot be preceded. This is an acceptable answer that both respects the priority of the person (which must exist to receive, and so doesn't dissolve into the relation itself) while also maintaining the idea of reception and gift (in that our preceding is itself a creation and gift of God as a positing of identity itself), but it then brings up the problem that if our very existence is described as gift in this sense, one has to wonder why merely existing as the identity given (which McGill would reject as a form of concupiscence) is not then a form of receiving? Why, if the basic underlying core of our identity is gift, should not the living of this identity be reception of the gift so that no further reception is needed?

Again, these questions are implicitly answered by McGill's understanding of the crucifixion, that the only true response to gift is not acceptance and self posession of the gift, but rather, taking a cue from Jesus steadfastly setting Himself towards the cross, that the very act of recieving reorients our awareness of identity into a constant recieiving from the gift giver. How radically this would alter how we deal with eachother! That in recieving from someone, this does not nullify my neediness to that person, but sets up continual and repeated neediness to them, and vice versa, those who recieve from me now constantly receive. This on the surface sounds like a violent system of dependency that many Feminists and Marxists would dismiss as empty and inherently moving towards hegemony and struggle. But the beauty of the system is that it basis itself not on our strength (which would indeed lead to hegemony) but on the constant reception of Christ's love, so that our neediness and constant reliance upon eachother is a function of our reliance upon the ultimate Source. So what then is exactly my compaint to McGill? It is that I had to extract this argument, that it, while in some areas a glimmer of its light shines forth, for the most part is vaguely implicit (more explicit in the last chapter, but nonetheless...)

The same criticism is level at his explanation of Jesus' self consciousness being outside of himself. Again I understand and wholly support what McGills apparent intentions were, that we should not draw a boundary around ourselve and label everything else "not me," but rather, "I am by virtue of a constant recieving. My "I am" exists by virtue of a recieving that constantly comes from beyond myself." But nonetheless McGill doesn't outline how this applies to the Father? Is the Father in Himself ultimate source and so the ultimate giver of gifts while Himself being un-needy? Again, the implicit answer given by McGill is that the Father makes Himself dependant on the Son, and so in Giving the SOn the gift of the SPirit, the Father is now reliant upon the Son giving the gift back through a new cycle of dependance that culminates in the cross. But again this is speculative as McGill doesn't go into it.

These are small complaints however, and McGill should be applauded for his enormous contributions. I can only hope that this line of thinking is taken seriously in the coming theological discussions. For more detail on McGill's thought, I recommend his "Suffering, a Test of Theological Method."

In this surprisingly compact book, Professor Brennan documents characteristics of the dehumanizing rhetoric which has accompanied so many atrocities of history. His text provides persuasive evidence that the rationalizations used to justify destroying other human beings are rather uncreative, falling into only eight categories. Brennan classifies these alibis of destruction into "Deficient" humans, nonhumans, animals, parasites, diseases, inanimate objects, waste products, and the Orwellian "legal nonperson." He focuses upon the plight of women, European Jews, American blacks, the unborn, and the disabled.

Brennan's commentary on the "semantic gymnastics" by which some people have dehumanized others is sharp, though pedants like myself would enjoy several hundred pages asking whether semantic corruption precedes mass oppression, or merely rationalizes oppressive actions already in progress.

While reading the concluding chapters, I was reminded of Simone Weil's comment that force turns a person into a *thing*, an object, a non-human. Brennan shows us the powerful force of words, those mere utterances that have for too long confined men and women to toil, terror, and death.

Author William Brennan takes a much-needed look at the semantics of oppression. He effectively shows that the language used to justify the treatment of Native Americans by the U.S. government, African Americans prior to the end of slavery, and European Jews during World War II is the same language used to speak of the unborn in today's culture.

This is an eye-opening book and there can be no denying the author's powerful thesis.

William Brennan is a Pro-Life activist who has provided the Right To Life movement with a very useful tool by authoring DEHUMANIZING THE VULNERABLE. Brennan shows how dehumanizing language is used to devalue vulnerable populations such as the unborn and the elderly. The historical examples he offers are quite convincing as he traces the dehumanizing efforts made against women, European Jews, Soviet enemies, African Americans and Native Americans. Opponents of such groups often try to depict them as inanimate objects, waste products, nonpersons and even diseases.

Brennan makes his case with clarity. Anyone interested in Right To Life issues will find this book to be a good investment.

One of my favorite books, Dehumanizing the Vulnerable illustrates how human beings are reduced to non-human status by those who wish to destroy them, and it starts with the power of words. Everyone from unborn babies to people of certain ethnic backgrounds have been the victims of those who were the "pro-choice" movement of the time. ("Pro-choice" in owning a slave, murdering Jews or "terminating" an unborn baby.) This book is relevant not only to those who oppose abortion, but those like myself who oppose the entire spectrum of aggression (including war and the death penalty). Invaluable for all human rights activist, whether your focus is on the rights of humans in the womb,out of the womb---or both.

Steven Toushin has written a very important book, a must-read for anyone interested in Freedom of Speech issues, sexuality and alternate sexualities, particularly BDSM, and the legal issues surrounding obscenity and pornography. His first hand account of his arrest and trial for the distribution of pornography is a fascinating and educational view of the excesses of government's attempts to control morality.

Toushin's book may in fact be unique, in that it is a defendant's document of his obscenity trial, and includes transcripts of the actual trial. It also includes transcripts of the development of the legal defense, interviews with possible witnesses that run the gamut from participants in the films seized, to mental health experts and sociologists.
Prosecuted under an insidious plan developed by the Meese Commission on Pornography, Toushin defended himself against the full brunt of the Federal Government. Most of the other businesses charged in this particular sweep of adult film companies closed, paid fines, and kept a low profile. To his lasting credit, Toushin fought to save his businesses, his personal freedom, and First Amendment rights.

The government's plan was brilliant, although it's legality was questioned by many, including the FBI. Smaller cities in conservative states were chosen as a venue where it was felt there would be a greater probability of conviction for obscenity. Postmasters in the chosen cities ordered and bought catalogs from adult businesses, then frequently purchased additional "specialty" catalogs. They then ordered films depicting acts that were determined most likely to offend a jury. It was actually stated the outcome of the trial was not crucial to the prosecution's plan. The real intent was to charge the defendants in as many states as possible at the same time and to make legal defense impossible financially. The adult companies would be bankrupted or closed even if it was later determined by the court the material they sold was legal and protected.

`Moral Fabric' reads like a good thriller. The reader is lead through the defense team's discovery process and then the trial, not knowing in advance what the outcome will be.
As the defense lawyers educate themselves on the BDSM lifestyle and it's wide variety of sexual practices, this reader was also informed. There are brow raisers and chuckles.

The book's true value is as a social document late 20th Century sexual practices, ideas on morality and individual rights, and legal precedent. It is fascinating now and surely will also be equally so in 50 years.
We live in a society where every art form, every kind of media, every kind of entertainment and even our advertising is directly influenced by pornography. Our ideas about sex and sexuality are in constant transition. If the financial numbers for the pornography business are correct, the creation, sales and consumption are a huge business that rivals or surpasses Hollywood. Someone is enjoying a lot of erotica. The success of "moralists" to shame some into submission and denial leaves a conflicted populace that want to continue consuming porn with pleasure, but must also punish...someone. It is telling that "someone" is not the creator, the participants, or the consumer, but it is the distributor.
Steven Toushin is to be commended for his insistence on personal sexual freedom, free speech, and his willingness to share his own life experience.
There are many memorable ideas and quotations. To paraphrase and quote a few favorites:
"The right to view legal adult material in one's own home is meaningless if there is no way to purchase or otherwise obtain it."
-Judge

"It is not popular speech that needs protection, but unpopular speech."

"The Gothic idea that we were to look backwards instead of forwards for the improvement of the human mind, and to recur to the annals of our ancestors for what is most perfect in government, in religion and in learning, is worthy of those bigots in religion and government by whom it has been recommended, and whose purpose it would answer. But it is not an idea this country will endure."
-Thomas Jefferson 1800

October 20, 2005 - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has announced that his office will specifically target "bestiality, urination, defecation, as well as sadistic and masochistic behavior" in pursuing new obscenity prosecutions. The Department of Justice began recruiting in late July for a new anti-obscenity squad to pursue obscenity prosecutions, and the FBI announced in September that it was forming an anti-obscenity task force to crack down on pornography. Any website that has content containing...these acts...should be forewarned that prosecution is possible. Additionally, Federal sentencing guidelines state that any obscenity- related punishment should be "enhanced for sadomasochistic material..." from The National Coalition for Sexual Freedom website.

As some may recall, President Ronald Reagan tossed his religious conservative base a prize in the form of Attorney General Edwin Meese in the late 80's. Meese plunged headlong into controversy when he appointed the "Meese Commission" to investigate pornography in the United States; their report, released in July 1986, was highly critical of pornography and the effects it had on people. Essentially rewriting earlier government studies that pronounced that there were no harmful links between pornography and behavior to suit their conservative agenda, Meese gave the Reagan Administration license to attack the adult entertainment industry and they did so with zeal. Toushin became one of their primary targets.

In 1987, Toushin was arrested as part of "Operation PostPorn," holding him and his staff for twelve hours as some 40-odd shotgun and handgun toting FBI agents searched and stripped his office (after some two weeks of covert surveillance on your tax-dollars.) Under Meese, the Department of Justice had made pornography crackdowns a priority, and had arranged for men in two states to order the hardest of hard-core SM videos. This forced the trials to meet the "community standards" of the locations the items were mailed to (Tennessee and Utah) and eventually laws were amended to include pornography under RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations).

What follows in "Moral Fabric" is a panorama of how the government turned all of its energies on Toushin using movies that were as far afeild or disgusting to a jury of vanilla citizens as the times probably had (including fisting and scat), and how the prosecution was perfectly willing to exaggerate their claims in order to make their case. (The Attorney General of Utah claiming that Toushin was selling child-porn and bestiality being the most flagrant.)

Toushin is more documentarian than judgmental (but not completely outside the realm of zinger-tossing). The bulk of the book deals with how Toushin winds through the court system and prison, yet is also willing to name names. "The Destruction Of The Moral Fabric Of America" is not a light read. In fact, it isn't even an easy read. But frankly, Toushin made history and set precedent for those of us who may forget that battles were fought and at the cost of lives ruined and liberties compromised. While he may still be around to run a successful Theater in Chicago, his book is a reminder that not everyone walks through fire unscathed.

Wow! The Destruction of the Moral Fabric of America has me speechless. Where to begin talking about this volume? You could say it's about the history of gay porn, or BDSM, or it is a memoir of Steven Toushin's colorful and intensely lived life, or an expose by someone dedicated to their principles no matter what morality police do. All are correct. It is about all these things, needless to say it is not a light read but it is an important one.



Steven is well-armed with historical facts, trial transcripts, and interviews. The reader is led circuitously through his first-hand experience with governmental repression and intimidation, his arrests, trials, jail time, his ruminations on pornography, BDSM, and the government. He covers a lot of territory. It is sobering! One cannot walk away from this book without feeling a little queasy about our government and its insistence on overseeing American's sexuality and desires. Steven likes to let the actual correspondences, court documents, and interviews speak for themselves; not that he doesn't express his opinions, there is plenty of that, but he backs up those opinions with cold hard facts. Be warned, nobody is off the hook in this book. Steven takes a cold hard look at the BDSM culture and lays out what he sees as the pitfalls and what his suggestions are for remedying these problems. Including what a certified Master/Mistress may look like and what the criteria for such a certification would entail.



Toushin has waited over 30 years to spill the beans so there's quite a mess of beans on the floor! What are we going to do with the mess? My suggestion, keep this book as a reference point for the long fight ahead...it is far from being over. Those that forget history are doomed to repeat it is the phrase that comes to mind. If we are to fight for our rights, to live our lives as we see fit then we have to build upon the blood, sweat, and tears of those who sacrificed and fought so hard because they had not other choice if they were going to lead life on their own terms. Sleep with one eye open America. As the government likes to keep parroting "freedom isn't free". Damn straight, we've got an internal war going on folks, right here in our bedrooms. Be prepared to fight! Don't worry, there have been warriors that have gone before us. We are not alone...read and prepare yourselves.

By and large, Steven Toushin's latest book is about legal problems revolving around four SM films made in the 1980s which accumulated in a trail in 1989. There are a lot of primary documents included in the book that should be of great value to anyone interested in the legal system and how it is used to try and regulate adult sexuality. It may also be interesting to anyone wanting to know more about SM's history and legal standing. It is a massive book and not for a casual reader however. I have some problems with how sections are arranged but the overall excellent value for anyone doing research into these subjects outweights those concerns.

Although I second the other revierw here, I must add that this book could be some 100 pages shorter and still hit the mark. The way it is, Lambrecht uses too much words to deliver his message.
Also, because of the subject matter itself, the book is a bit outdated.
Other than that, good reading material.

If you are curious about what you are eating this is a necessary book for you. Bill Lambrecht provides an unbiased resource for those intrested in the history of GMO food. Lambrecht gives the opinions of scientists, politicians and the farmers that grow these crops. This provides a balenced collage of information that allows anyone to make up their own mind about what the future of food should be.

This book was very enlightening in the subject of GMO's, as they are a powerful new technology with frightening implications. Lambrecht uses entertaining anecdotes and accounts of his dealings with ordinarys farmer and head agricultural powerfigures. I recommend this book because it tried to show an objective perspective on the entire issue, and left no voice unheard.

I was a little wary when purchasing this book that the entire premise would be zealotish anti-GMO and anti-biotechnology. The quotes on the cover seemed to indicate that would also be the case. I was extremely pleased to find a very balanced reporting of both sides of the genetic engineering debate. The author has been a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for over 2 decades, and has been covering the debate and progress since its inception. His style is engaging and fast-paced, with humor and human interest sprinkled in to lighten a complex topic. He seems to lean toward the side of caution, but gives full reporting to the biotech companies' claims and biotech's proponents' enthusiasm. I personally am hopeful of the promise and potential of this technology, but this book helped me understand opponents' fears in a very sympathetic way. Particularly frightening was the disclosure of some of the big biotech firms' less-than-open trials and political influences. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about the issues involved in genetically engineering our food.

1. If you believe medicine and the pharmaceutical industry in this country have your best interests at heart, you should read this book.

2. If you believe that drug advertising is direct and honest, you need to read this book.

3. If you believe the propaganda that medicine is the only effective form of health care in town, you need to read this book. (Medicine and particularly the pharmaceutical industry work to help ensure that alternative health care avenues never achieve their deserved status.)

4. If you believe the media has an objective voice when it comes to reporting on new or miracle drugs, you need to read this book.

5. If you believe your health will improve if you find the right drug or enough drugs, you need to read this book.

6. If you believe that taking legal drugs is safe, you need to read this book. (Drug reactions in hospitals alone [exclusive of the general non-hospitalized public] rank as the 4th leading cause of death in this country.)

7. If you are concerned with the state of health care in this country and wonder why even though we are taking more drugs than ever before, we aren't getting any healthier, you need to read this book. (There was a 400% increase in the per capita expenditure on legal drugs in this country between 1981-1997.)

Look at it this way--You need to read this book. It's an eye-opener.

The Drug Lords...America's Pharmaceutical Cartel offers an eye-opening look at our over-prescribed, over-medicated society and the role the pharmaceutical industry plays in keeping us there. Author Tonda Bian seeks to bring to light the propaganda Americans have bought into--that drugs can heal. Bian uses examples to show that drugs don't heal--we have just been led to believe that if we take enough drugs or the right drug our health will improve, but in fact, the only thing improving with the increase in legal drug use in this country is the profit of the industry. In fact, Bian notes how the toxic nature of drugs is key in the illness and death of tens of thousands annually.

Bian also looks at medicine's goal of keeping all other forms of health care non-competitive by its ongoing propaganda campaign it assists with the media's help. In other words, non-medical or alternative/complementary care is kept at arm's reach from most American's due to a combination of politics, propaganda and the press.

The book is a must-read for anyone concerned with our sick and dying society and medicine's interest in keeping us there--because the sick and dying offer an endless marketplace. The healthy do not.

A bargain at $12.95

Michael Savas IM49008@aol.com

Ms. Bian's book is a real eye-opener, exposing not only the severe health concerns caused by an over-medicated society but also the interworkings of the pharmaceutical companies with organizations you thought had your best interests in mind.I continuously recommend this book to others.Every year the Physicians Desk Reference gets larger and larger, the list of side effects longer and longer and America sicker and sicker.Do your health a favor.Buy this book.

The pharmaceutical industry has gotten out of control. This book points out when,how,why and who is has allowed this to happen. It has the reader understanding some of the consequeces they may face if prescribed a certain drug. It makes the public more aware of the marketing tactics of these enormous companies and why they have so much power. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is willing to take responsibility for their own health. To find out why you should not leave your decision making about taking prescription drugs up to your medical doctor read this book!

I am totally new to this "ism." Thus, I find this book can offer a good review about ecofeminism.

I read this book for the Jan/Feb 2004 LD Topic: "A government's obligation to protect the environment ought to have precedence over its obligation to promote economic development." I have to say I highly reccomend this book to anyone interested in the connections between the environment and feminism. I especially liked the discussion of how women and the environment are connected through language through the use of word's like "Mother Nature." That use in particular was to put it in a word pimp. Warren covers all areas of ecofeminist thought, and is extremely fair to those critical of ecofeminism. To anyone interested in learning about how our domination of the environment undergirds our domination of other groups this book is perfect. As I said before, this work by a "street philosopher," is simply pimp. Highest recomendations!

ECOFEMINIST PHILOSOPHY
A WESTERN PERSPECTIVE ON WHAT IT IS AND WHY IT MATTERS

By Karen J. Warren
Rowman and Littlefield, 230 pages
A Review by Wendell G. Bradley

Warren calls herself a ýstreet philosopherý. And, true to her calling, this professor of philosophy at Macalester College reaches the ordinary reader on important issues.

Ordinary philosophy is already superseded in chapter one entitled: ýNature is a Feminist Issueý. Women, world-wide, are shown to experience environmental harm disproportionately. And, they are organizing, as women, against related dominations.

For Warren, dominations tend to follow whenever (allegedly) ethically relevant hierarchies designate their ýothersý as inferiors. Subordinations, however, have to be first justified by ýa logic of dominationý. Humans, for example, might be deemed superior to nature because they have the ability to manipulate it. But, without a logic of domination, ýsuperiorityý could just as well lead to stewardship.

Patriarchy provides our current logic of domination. Under its conceptual framework, men become associated with reason and volition (read: intelligence and public roles). The result is a prevailing male-other bias that links women and nature--women too naturally something, to be allowed this or that. Accordingly, Warren recognizes both gender and ecology as good points of departure for an environmental ethic, hence ecofeminism.

Warren begins her ýquiltingý of an ecofeminist philosophy in chapter three. Here, she masterfully interrogates and reconceptualizes the reductive and essentialist rationality of todayýs male-other bias. Various belief examinations arise from the ýcognitive dissonancesý she brings to light in an examined patriarchy. At a minimum our loss of ecological integrity has required justification via a logic of domination. Our human spirit, however, can become caring enough to resist oppressions and destructions, especially in oneýs home place.

Accordingly, Warren introduces a ýcare-sensitiveý ethic. It is characterized by a ýloving eyeý that focuses on a contextual orientation, a more optimistic understanding of self, an inclusivist ethical pluralism, incorporations of emotional intelligence, and a nonprivileging social justice. Through our spiritual ability to care, these qualities combine to make nature ýmorally deservingý. Thus, Warrenýs care-sensitive ethic makes a fundamental contribution to a possible ecological flourishing.

The idea of ecofeminism, itself, is not particularly new, but Warrenýs insights, clarifications and arguments are. Her overall philosophical synthesis is both refreshing and convincing.

Wendell G. Bradley, is a retired professor of Human Ecology and author of ýThe Gift of Moralityý . He lives in Colorado.

ECOFEMINIST PHILOSOPHY
A WESTERN PERSPECTIVE ON WHAT IT IS AND WHY IT MATTERS
By Karen J. Warren

A Review by Wendell G. Bradley

Warren calls herself a `street philosopher'. And, true to her calling, this professor of philosophy at Macalester College reaches the ordinary reader on important issues.

Ordinary philosophy is already superseded in chapter one entitled: `Nature is a Feminist Issue'. Women, world-wide, are shown to experience environmental harm disproportionately. And, they are organizing, as women, against related dominations.

For Warren, dominations tend to follow whenever (allegedly) ethically relevant hierarchies designate their `others' as inferiors. Subordinations, however, have to be first justified by `a logic of domination'. Humans, for example, might be deemed superior to nature because they have the ability to manipulate it. But, without a logic of domination, `superiority' could just as well lead to stewardship.

Patriarchy provides our current logic of domination. Under its conceptual framework, men become associated with reason and volition (read: intelligence and public roles). The result is a prevailing male-other bias that links women and nature--women too naturally something, to be allowed this or that. Accordingly, Warren recognizes both gender and ecology as good points of departure for an environmental ethic, hence ecofeminism.

Warren begins her `quilting' of an ecofeminist philosophy in chapter three. Here, she masterfully interrogates and reconceptualizes the reductive and essentialist rationality of today's male-other bias. Various belief examinations arise from the `cognitive dissonances' she brings to light in an examined patriarchy. At a minimum our loss of ecological integrity has required justification via a logic of domination. Our human spirit, however, can become caring enough to resist oppressions and destructions, especially in one's home place.

Accordingly, Warren introduces a `care-sensitive' ethic. It is characterized by a `loving eye' that focuses on a contextual orientation, a more optimistic understanding of self, an inclusivist ethical pluralism, incorporations of emotional intelligence, and a nonprivileging social justice. Through our spiritual ability to care, these qualities combine to make nature `morally deserving'. Thus, Warren's care-sensitive ethic makes a fundamental contribution to a possible ecological flourishing.

The idea of ecofeminism, itself, is not particularly new, but Warren's insights, clarifications and arguments are. Her overall philosophical synthesis is both refreshing and convincing.

Wendell G. Bradley, is a retired professor of Human Ecology and author of `The Gift of Morality'.