The Agrarian Vision: Sustainability and Environmental Ethics

Culture of the Land

by Paul B. Thompson

As industry and technology proliferate in modern society, sustainability has jumped to the forefront of contemporary political and environmental discussions. The balance between progress and the earth's ability to provide for its inhabitants grows increasingly precarious as we attempt to achieve sustainable development. In The Agrarian Vision: Sustainability and Environmental Ethics, Paul B. Thompson articulates a new agrarian philosophy, emphasizing the vital role of agrarianism in modern agricultural practices. Thompson, a highly regarded voice in environmental philosophy, unites concepts of agrarian philosophy, political theory, and environmental ethics to illustrate the importance of creating and maintaining environmentally conscious communities. Thompson describes the evolution of agrarian values in America, following the path blazed by Thomas Jefferson, John Steinbeck, and Wendell Berry.

Providing a pragmatic approach to ecological responsibility and commitment, The Agrarian Vision is a significant, compelling argument for the practice of a reconfigured and expanded agrarianism in our efforts to support modern industrialized culture while also preserving the natural world.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Academic

336 pages, Hardcover

First published July 7, 2010

Reviews

[Russell Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful collection of philosophical essays--some of them are somewhat dated, and some of them are deeply invested in terminological and methodological debates that plainly would have (and, I presume, still would) appeal most to other professional philosophers, but all of them include arguments and insights that those of us who want to think more deeply and seriously about agrarian and environmental concerns can benefit from. Wendell Berry and Thomas Jefferson make regular appearances throughout these essays, as Thompson explores sustainability from a host of social, political, and literary angles, but his reading is broad, and he makes use of all sorts of thinkers from the Western philosophy canon, from Aristotle to Hegel, as well as drawing upon a good deal of American history, especially as it pertains to farming practices and agricultural policies. He does not present "sustainability" as something that exists in direct opposition to individualistic or utilitarian or efficiency-minded or rights-based formulations of human problems, but rather as an abiding concern, connected to perennial aspects of (or perhaps rather aspirational motivations within) humanity's moral anthropology, such as community and virtue, and hence as something that needs to be worked out even as our social worlds change and evolve. He makes the case, in a dozen different ways, that agrarian sensibilities, despite the massive urbanization and financialization of human society, still have a role to play in articulating sustainability today, and I agree with him.

[Paul · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author is terrible at communicating so what very little this book has to say is completely lost in meaningless marxist jargon.