The Nature of Being Human: From Environmentalism to Consciousness
Essays exploring humanity’s connection with the environment.

Although the physical relationship between the natural world and individuals is quantifiable, the psychosocial effect of the former on the latter is often less tangible. What, for instance, is the connection between the environment in which we live and our creativity? How is our consciousness bounded and delimited by our materiality? And from whence does our idea of self and our belief in free will derive and when do our surroundings challenge these basic assumptions?

Eco-critic Harold Fromm’s challenging exploration of these and related questions twines his own physical experiences and observations with insights gathered from both the humanities and the sciences. Writing broadly and personally, Fromm explores our views of nature and how we write about it. He ties together ecology, evolutionary psychology, and consciousness studies to show that our perceived separation from our surroundings is an illusory construct. He argues for a naturalistic vision of creativity, free will, and the literary arts unimpeded by common academic and professional restraints. At each point of this intellectual journey, Fromm is honest, engaging, and unsparing.

Philosophical, critical, often personal, Fromm’s sweeping, interdisciplinary, and sometimes combative essays will change the way you think about your place in the environment.

“How rare it is that a work of philosophical inquiry is written with the passion of a cri de coeur, but Harold Fromm’s brilliantly conceived The Nature of Being Human resonates with such uncanny depths. Here is an utterly engrossing first-person account of a harrowing pilgrimage into the 21st century and its disturbing revelations about humankind’s truest nature, in contrast to the comforting solicitudes of a “humanist” past. If the role of the philosopher is to force us to think, Harold Fromm is a born philosopher.” —Joyce Carol Oates

“Fromm, an erudite, prolific author of numerous works ranging from ecocritical commentary to self-reflective discourses, presents a compilation of essays that illuminate his views regarding why most Americans seem oblivious to the destruction of their environment.” —Choice

“Fromm’s journey from victim, to campaigner, to pioneer of eco-criticism (that is, the study of literature from an ecological viewpoint) is documented here, alongside challenging analyses of man’s place in nature, free will, our relationship with technology and more. Scholarly but engaging, Fromm is an environmentalist, but also a realist.” —Organic Gardener
"1111369851"
The Nature of Being Human: From Environmentalism to Consciousness
Essays exploring humanity’s connection with the environment.

Although the physical relationship between the natural world and individuals is quantifiable, the psychosocial effect of the former on the latter is often less tangible. What, for instance, is the connection between the environment in which we live and our creativity? How is our consciousness bounded and delimited by our materiality? And from whence does our idea of self and our belief in free will derive and when do our surroundings challenge these basic assumptions?

Eco-critic Harold Fromm’s challenging exploration of these and related questions twines his own physical experiences and observations with insights gathered from both the humanities and the sciences. Writing broadly and personally, Fromm explores our views of nature and how we write about it. He ties together ecology, evolutionary psychology, and consciousness studies to show that our perceived separation from our surroundings is an illusory construct. He argues for a naturalistic vision of creativity, free will, and the literary arts unimpeded by common academic and professional restraints. At each point of this intellectual journey, Fromm is honest, engaging, and unsparing.

Philosophical, critical, often personal, Fromm’s sweeping, interdisciplinary, and sometimes combative essays will change the way you think about your place in the environment.

“How rare it is that a work of philosophical inquiry is written with the passion of a cri de coeur, but Harold Fromm’s brilliantly conceived The Nature of Being Human resonates with such uncanny depths. Here is an utterly engrossing first-person account of a harrowing pilgrimage into the 21st century and its disturbing revelations about humankind’s truest nature, in contrast to the comforting solicitudes of a “humanist” past. If the role of the philosopher is to force us to think, Harold Fromm is a born philosopher.” —Joyce Carol Oates

“Fromm, an erudite, prolific author of numerous works ranging from ecocritical commentary to self-reflective discourses, presents a compilation of essays that illuminate his views regarding why most Americans seem oblivious to the destruction of their environment.” —Choice

“Fromm’s journey from victim, to campaigner, to pioneer of eco-criticism (that is, the study of literature from an ecological viewpoint) is documented here, alongside challenging analyses of man’s place in nature, free will, our relationship with technology and more. Scholarly but engaging, Fromm is an environmentalist, but also a realist.” —Organic Gardener
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The Nature of Being Human: From Environmentalism to Consciousness

The Nature of Being Human: From Environmentalism to Consciousness

by Harold Fromm
The Nature of Being Human: From Environmentalism to Consciousness

The Nature of Being Human: From Environmentalism to Consciousness

by Harold Fromm

eBook

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Overview

Essays exploring humanity’s connection with the environment.

Although the physical relationship between the natural world and individuals is quantifiable, the psychosocial effect of the former on the latter is often less tangible. What, for instance, is the connection between the environment in which we live and our creativity? How is our consciousness bounded and delimited by our materiality? And from whence does our idea of self and our belief in free will derive and when do our surroundings challenge these basic assumptions?

Eco-critic Harold Fromm’s challenging exploration of these and related questions twines his own physical experiences and observations with insights gathered from both the humanities and the sciences. Writing broadly and personally, Fromm explores our views of nature and how we write about it. He ties together ecology, evolutionary psychology, and consciousness studies to show that our perceived separation from our surroundings is an illusory construct. He argues for a naturalistic vision of creativity, free will, and the literary arts unimpeded by common academic and professional restraints. At each point of this intellectual journey, Fromm is honest, engaging, and unsparing.

Philosophical, critical, often personal, Fromm’s sweeping, interdisciplinary, and sometimes combative essays will change the way you think about your place in the environment.

“How rare it is that a work of philosophical inquiry is written with the passion of a cri de coeur, but Harold Fromm’s brilliantly conceived The Nature of Being Human resonates with such uncanny depths. Here is an utterly engrossing first-person account of a harrowing pilgrimage into the 21st century and its disturbing revelations about humankind’s truest nature, in contrast to the comforting solicitudes of a “humanist” past. If the role of the philosopher is to force us to think, Harold Fromm is a born philosopher.” —Joyce Carol Oates

“Fromm, an erudite, prolific author of numerous works ranging from ecocritical commentary to self-reflective discourses, presents a compilation of essays that illuminate his views regarding why most Americans seem oblivious to the destruction of their environment.” —Choice

“Fromm’s journey from victim, to campaigner, to pioneer of eco-criticism (that is, the study of literature from an ecological viewpoint) is documented here, alongside challenging analyses of man’s place in nature, free will, our relationship with technology and more. Scholarly but engaging, Fromm is an environmentalist, but also a realist.” —Organic Gardener

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780801895357
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date: 02/03/2022
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 359
File size: 2 MB
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

Harold Fromm is a visiting scholar at the University of Arizona whose writings on the self, the environment, and academia have been widely read and debated. He is the coeditor of The Ecocriticism Reader and the author of Academic Capitalism and Literary Value.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction: From Environmentalism to Consciousness
Part I: Ecology
1. Awakening to the "Environment"
2. On Being Polluted
3. From Transcendence to Obsolescence: A Route Map
4. Air and Being: The Psychedelics of Pollution
5. Ecocriticism's Genesis
6. Ecology and Ideology
7. Aldo Leopold: Esthetic "Anthropocentrist"
8. Postmodern Ecologizing: Circumference without a Center
9. The "Environment" Is Us
10. Ecology and Ecstasy on Interstate 80
11. Full Stomach Wilderness and the Suburban Esthetic
12. Coetzee's Postmodern Animals
Part Two: "Nature" and Evolution
13. My Science Wars
14. O, Paglia Mia!
15. A Crucifix for Dracula: Wendell Berry Meets Edward O. Wilson
16. The New Darwinism in the Humanities
17. Ecocriticism's Big Bang
18. Overcoming the Oversoul: Emerson's Evolutionary Existentialism
19. Back to Bacteria: Richard Dawkins' Fabulous Bestiary
Part Three: Consciousness
20. Muses, Spooks, Neurons, and the Rhetoric of "Freedom"
21. John Searle and His Ghosts
22. Daniel Dennett and the Brick Wall of Consciousness
23. The Crumbling Mortar of Social Construction
Conclusion: My Life as a Robot
Notes
Index

What People are Saying About This

David P. Barash

Harold Fromm writes about 'awakening to the environment,' but his book is much more. A desperately needed, beautifully crafted manifesto, it is nothing less than a great humanist awakening to the reality of also being a material, fully biological creature.

David P. Barash, coauthor of How Women Got Their Curves and Other Just-So Stories

Joyce Carol Oates

How rare it is that a work of philosophical inquiry is written with the passion of a cri de coeur, but Harold Fromm's brilliantly conceived The Nature of Being Human resonates with such uncanny depths. Here is an utterly engrossing first-person account of a harrowing pilgrimage into the 21st century and its disturbing revelations about humankind's truest nature, in contrast to the comforting solicitudes of a 'humanist' past. If the role of the philosopher is to force us to think, Harold Fromm is a born philosopher.

Joseph Carroll

Fromm delineates three main movements in the naturalistic thinking of the past several decades—ecology, Darwinism, and consciousness studies. He brings a fine and subtle literary intelligence to bear on these subjects, brilliantly illuminating their imaginative implications. His prose is vibrant, vigorous, pithy, and often humorous.

Joseph Carroll, author of Literary Darwinism: Evolution, Human Nature, and Literature

From the Publisher

How rare it is that a work of philosophical inquiry is written with the passion of a cri de coeur, but Harold Fromm's brilliantly conceived The Nature of Being Human resonates with such uncanny depths. Here is an utterly engrossing first-person account of a harrowing pilgrimage into the 21st century and its disturbing revelations about humankind's truest nature, in contrast to the comforting solicitudes of a 'humanist' past. If the role of the philosopher is to force us to think, Harold Fromm is a born philosopher.
—Joyce Carol Oates

Harold Fromm writes about 'awakening to the environment,' but his book is much more. A desperately needed, beautifully crafted manifesto, it is nothing less than a great humanist awakening to the reality of also being a material, fully biological creature.
—David P. Barash, coauthor of How Women Got Their Curves and Other Just-So Stories

Fromm delineates three main movements in the naturalistic thinking of the past several decades—ecology, Darwinism, and consciousness studies. He brings a fine and subtle literary intelligence to bear on these subjects, brilliantly illuminating their imaginative implications. His prose is vibrant, vigorous, pithy, and often humorous.
—Joseph Carroll, author of Literary Darwinism: Evolution, Human Nature, and Literature

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