The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology, and the Scientific Revolution
Written by Carolyn Merchant
Narrated by Juliet Jones
4/5
()
About this audiobook
An examination of the Scientific Revolution that shows how the mechanistic world view of modern science has sanctioned the exploitation of nature, unrestrained commercial expansion, and a new socioeconomic order that subordinates women.
Carolyn Merchant
Carolyn Merchant, Ph.D., is professor of environmental history, philosophy, and ethics in the Department of Conservation and Resource Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.
Related to The Death of Nature
Related audiobooks
Visionary Women: How Rachel Carson, Jane Jacobs, Jane Goodall, and Alice Waters Changed Our World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Nature of Tomorrow: A History of the Environmental Future Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Philosophy Of Wildness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The New Science of the Enchanted Universe: An Anthropology of Most of Humanity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Field Guide to Climate Anxiety: How to Keep Your Cool on a Warming Planet Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How Forests Think: Toward an Anthropology Beyond the Human Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Philosophy of Social Ecology: Essays on Dialectical Naturalism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Erosion: Essays of Undoing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Future Earth: A Radical Vision for What's Possible in the Age of Warming Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wild Souls: Freedom and Flourishing in the Non-Human World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fossil Capital: The Rise of Steam Power and the Roots of Global Warming Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Science for a Green New Deal: Connecting Climate, Economics, and Social Justice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tending the Wild: Native American Knowledge and the Management of California's Natural Resources Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Humankind: Solidarity with Nonhuman People Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Reclaiming Native Culture Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rewilding: The Radical New Science of Ecological Recovery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Archipelago of Hope: Wisdom and Resilience from the Edge of Climate Change Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Thriving Beyond Sustainability: Pathways to a Resilient Society Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Deep Ecology for the 21st Century, Part 3: Deep Questioning: The Eight Principles of Deep Ecology Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Next Great Migration: The Beauty and Terror of Life on the Move Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Being the Change: Live Well and Spark a Climate Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Disasterology: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the Climate Crisis Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pollution is Colonialism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Waste: One Woman’s Fight Against America’s Dirty Secret Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Feral: Rewilding the Land, the Sea, and Human Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Environmental Science For You
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Way of Imagination Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grandma Gatewood's Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Uncertain Sea: Fear is everywhere. Embrace it. Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In Winter's Kitchen: Growing Roots and Breaking Bread in the Northern Heartland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Animal, Vegetable, Miracle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shelter: A Love Letter to Trees Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Nature's Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gator Country: Deception, Danger, and Alligators in the Everglades Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Underland: A Deep Time Journey Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man-made Landscape Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Monkey Wrench Gang Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Of Time and Turtles: Mending the World, Shell by Shattered Shell Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The World Without Us Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The End of the River Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Silent Spring Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Life on Earth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5In Search of Mycotopia: Citizen Science, Fungi Fanatics, and the Untapped Potential of Mushrooms Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for The Death of Nature
32 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book remains a classic after over 40 years in print, and rightfully so.Merchant examines how the Scientific Revolution happened hand-in-hand with the rise of capitalism, the justification of ecological exploitation, and further suppression of women's freedom. Before the Scientific Revolution, nature was seen as an organic whole, and humans were an integral but equal part in this organic system. Science focused on studying the relationships between microcosms and macrocosms and understanding the system as a whole. Nature was portrayed as a goddess who gave bounty in exchange for reverence and harmony.Then the Scientific Revolution began to focus on laws that can be universally applied, and on breaking things down into small components and understanding those components individually. It also focused on how to exploit nature to get the most out of it in the interests of capitalism. In essence, the Scientific Revolution re-imagined the world as a machine rather than a living organism. A machine has predictable behavior, exists to serve man, and has no life or soul. This shift in thinking completely changed the course of history.Merchant examines in detail how this shift happened, in both scientific thinking and in literature. It's clear from reading this that the Scientific Revolution was the beginning of rampant capitalism, the current climate crisis, and our difficulty with understanding nature as a whole system instead of as a bunch of discrete parts. It's fascinating to think about how different the world would be if these changes hadn't happened.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What a fascinating and enlightening book. Merchant wonderfully tells the compelling tale of how Western civilization in Europe began seeing the Universe as a dead thing rather than a living being- a pile of resources to be exploited rather than a mother figure to be nourished and nurtured. She looks most pointedly at records from mining charters form the time period in question as well as works previous to that. It seems a definite shift occurred around 1500 concerning our attitude towards Nature and the Earth.She argues that a more rigid, violent,and paternalistic culture came to dominance at that time, virtually crushing the older more wholistic and maternalistic culture. It allowed us to coldly rationalize our "rape" of what used to be Mother Nature through mining and timber harvesting mainly.Although Merchant has gone on to argue points and positions much more radical in later years, she has always done so in a rational manner, backed up with solid evidence- she does not simply hollowly bark at ideas she does not like. The Death of Nature is first and foremost a history book. It does end up arguing a more environmental message but only because the evidence leads us that way not because Merchant forces the idea down our throats.