The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology, and the Scientific Revolution
by Carolyn Merchant
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 57)
In her 1980 book, The Death of Nature, Carolyn Merchant developed a feminist theory through the lens of the ecology movement. She explained how the pre-scientific world not only maintained a sense of chivalry and respect toward nature, but also associated feminine and life-giving characteristics to nature. Prior to the works of the founding ‘fathers’ of modern science, such as Bacon and Descartes, the values and images associated with women and nature were revered; however, as the worldview ...more
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Read in September, 2008
This book was quite simply not what I expected.
If you're looking for a history of conceptions of nature explored from a feminist and environmentalist perspective, this book is great; if, however, you are looking for a more theoretical approach to the interconnections between women and nature (as the subtitle seems to promise), this book isn't quite what you're looking for.
It does definitely deal with those interconnections and gives lots of specific examples of how women and nature hav...more
If you're looking for a history of conceptions of nature explored from a feminist and environmentalist perspective, this book is great; if, however, you are looking for a more theoretical approach to the interconnections between women and nature (as the subtitle seems to promise), this book isn't quite what you're looking for.
It does definitely deal with those interconnections and gives lots of specific examples of how women and nature hav...more
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Read in February, 2008
Okay, the point of this book is interesting, but it's so poorly written I wanted to scratch my eyes out. She's basically talking about the transition from an organic worldview to a mechanistic one. It's such a great topic, but it was so tedious! I offer a sentence: "For Descartes, unlike Marsenne and Gassendi, clear and distinct ideas were the basis for ascertaining the essence or true nature of things behind the appearances and their necessary connections." Shoot me in the head!
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Read in March, 2007
I thought this book was great. Basically the argument is that during the scientific revolution people began to view nature in terms of mechanical forces. This replaced the idea of nature as a feminine and womanly. I really liked it, a bit too "man bashy" (if that is a word) at times, but still really good.
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recommends it for:
environmental pholospohers/ethicists
a pretty good synthesis of the hostory of science with ecofeminism. I still weave this stuff into my courses. her later work is not nearly as good as this.
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Read in March, 2006
A revolutionary book for how society viewed women and nature. But, you need to be committed.
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Read in January, 2005
I only rate this book a three because I was able to get tons of quotes from it for papers.
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