The Foundations of Nature: Metaphysics of Gift for an Integral Ecological Ethic (Veritas)

Will the ecological crises of our time be resolved using the same form of thought that has brought them about? Are technological prowess and political power the proper tools to address them? Is there not a deeper connection between our ecological crises and our human social political economic and ethical crises? This book argues that the popular approaches to ecological bioethical and other human crises are not working because they fail to examine the problem in its full depth. This depth escapes us because we have abandoned true metaphysical reflection on the whole and substituted it unknowingly for a series of inadequate alternatives. Both the technocratic paradigm that views all of nature mechanistically and its antagonists--the eco-philosophies that argue for the realities of intrinsic value relationality and beauty--carry partial truths but are insufficient. This book presents a more radical alternative rooted in the classical tradition yet fresh and vibrant. The metaphysics of gift based in the giftedness of existence shared by all offers a deeper and more satisfying vision of all things that can transform our relationship with nature and touches every aspect of human life: social political economic technical and ethical.