Frog Pond Philosophy: Essays on the Relationship Between Humans and Nature (Culture of the Land)

The philanthropist and philosopher Strachan Donnelley (1942—2008) devoted his life to studying the complex relationship between humans and nature. Founder and first president of the Center for Humans and Nature, Donnelley was a pioneer in the exploration and promotion of the idea that human beings individually and collectively have moral and civic responsibilities to natural ecosystems. In this wide-ranging volume, Donnelley traces the connections between influential figures such as Aldo Leopold and Charles Darwin, as well as lesser-known but original thinkers that he met during the course of a full life — ministers at his church, friends with whom he fished, and colleagues who shared his passion for research and writing. He grounds his work in classic philosophers such as Descartes, Spinoza, and Whitehead and reinterprets their writings about the natural world to develop a conservation-centered philosophy, which he dubs "democratic ecological citizenship." Edited by his daughter, Ceara Donnelley, and Bruce Jennings, Frog Pond Philosophy illuminates the dominant strands of Donnelley's intellectual identity as a philosopher, naturalist, agitator, and spiritualist. Despite his often grim depiction of the current state of the environment, Donnelly never surrenders his faith in humanity's ability to meet its ethical obligations to conserve, respect, and nurture the complexity and diversity of the natural world. His vivid and personal essays, rooted in everyday experiences, offer a distinctive perspective on questions of urgent contemporary importance.

The philanthropist and philosopher Strachan Donnelley (1942–2008) devoted his life to studying the complex relationship between humans and nature. Founder and first president of the Center for Humans and Nature, Donnelley was a pioneer in the exploration and promotion of the idea that human beings individually and collectively have moral and civic responsibilities to natural ecosystems.

In this wide-ranging volume, Donnelley traces the connections between influential figures such as Aldo Leopold and Charles Darwin, as well as lesser-known but original thinkers that he met during the course of a full life—ministers at his church, friends with whom he fished, and colleagues who shared his passion for research and writing. He grounds his work in classic philosophers such as Descartes, Spinoza, and Whitehead and reinterprets their writings about the natural world to develop a conservation-centered philosophy, which he dubs "democratic ecological citizenship."

Edited by his daughter, Ceara Donnelley, and Bruce Jennings, Frog Pond Philosophy illuminates the dominant strands of Donnelley's intellectual identity as a philosopher, naturalist, agitator, and spiritualist. Despite his often grim depiction of the current state of the environment, Donnelly never surrenders his faith in humanity's ability to meet its ethical obligations to conserve, respect, and nurture the complexity and diversity of the natural world. His vivid and personal essays, rooted in everyday experiences, offer a distinctive perspective on questions of urgent contemporary importance.

__Frog Pond Philosophy__ explores ways of thinking “humans” and “nature” together so as to provide a philosophical and ethical alternative to the separation of human being and the rest of natural being that has been created by dominant currents in modern philosophy and modern science. The book offers two types of reflection that are meant to supplement and complement one another: personal essays and reflections based on direct encounters with nonhuman species and landscapes; and interpretive, philosophical essays devoted to a range of important modern and contemporary thinkers—from Descartes and Spinoza to Alfred North Whitehead and Hans Jonas, from Darwin to Aldo Leopold and Ernst Mayr. These essays offer a history of modern philosophies of nature and suggests a new direction for contemporary thought. __Frog Pond Philosophy__ gives a distinctive voice to a natural world consisting of humans and all other species, each part of a vital whole, where humans have a special responsibility to conserve, respect, and nurture that complex living whole in all its richness and diversity.