Philosophy of Nature

This philosophical treatise challenges the view that any form of manipulation of nature is equivalent to any other form rather than reflecting on how we should change nature. The author argues instead that because things have natures, there are in fact good and bad ways to manipulate them. He regards naturalness as a description of the way things are rather than how they ought to be. Perception therefore precedes ethics since our descriptions have a bearing on our values. The first two chapters are perhaps the most interesting for the general reader as they discuss different interfaces of natural, for instance in relation to culture, or as intrinsic. Second chapter provides a history of concepts of naturalness in Western philosophy, leading onto the author's own view based on dispositions and what he calls relational realism with a more applied discussion on wilderness stewardship in the last chapter.