xxxii
Introduction to the Book
the world is facing than a sole reliance on mainstream science and concludes by outlining how
inter-science cooperation may function. Chapter 3 (McAllister and Chikukwa) continues with
the critique of developmentalism, structured as a series of musings between a community activist
and a political ecologist in Zimbabwe’s Eastern Highlands. Lamenting the erosion of bio-cultural
diversity, knowledge and social connection through colonial interventions since the end of the nineteenth century, it suggests how farming approaches that reconnect people to one another and their
landscape are being undermined by coercive power relations and sometimes violent environments.
Yet throughout this persists the community knowledge of the spirits that inhabit the natural world,
the ancestors and the sacred places, and the need to preserve and maintain relationships with these.
In particular, the relationship between mermaids and the recent devastating cyclones is discussed,
demonstrating the striking coexistence of different worldviews.
Chapter 4 (Milne) turns to a thoughtful philosophical reflection on reconnecting with the ancient
sense of nature as originally intuited in cosmological myths and later with the rise of Greek philosophy.
It demonstrates how the rational and the ethical were once always connected, and that these provided a
society with its sense of being part of nature and of the greater cosmic order. Focusing on the example
of ownership and right use of property, it traces the rise of natural law in the Middle Ages and how
the emergence of the mechanistic vision of nature in the seventeenth century led to Western society
losing its participatory relationship with nature, with the consequences of commercial exploitation and
environmental abuse. It concludes on a positive note with the reminder that all people have an innate
sense of the whole and a moral call to live in harmony with nature. Chapter 5 (Cox) takes the example
of soil to explore non-dualism from an eco-psychology perspective. This chapter suggests that the current move in the environmental humanities to develop a fuller picture of human relationships to soil
will be thwarted if it doesn’t overtly challenge the assumptions of modern dualistic culture. Building
on previous works that discuss human relationships to both ‘inner soil’ and ‘outer soil’, it proposes
eco-psychology as a framework not only to highlight the problematic assumptions that inform many
modern perspectives about soil, but also to provide an alternative way forward which includes, simultaneously, acknowledging soil on its own terms, encouraging human relationships with soil and understanding humans as soil. It concludes by proposing three non-dualistic frameworks for consideration:
eco-feminism, Buddhism and indigenous perspectives. Similarly, calling for a new kind of science
and perspective for seeing the world, Chapter 6 (Brook) proposes the alternative scientific methodology of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, which countered both the prevailing vitalism and mechanistic
ways of seeing the world which dominated the science of his time (1749–1832). This chapter explains
how Goethe’s approach was of an informed holism that did not reject science but aimed to direct its
path towards a more sensitive appreciation of the generative power of nature, which he called a ‘delicate empiricism’. Using human faculties such as imagination and intuition, Goethe’s approach could
inform new ways of engaging with the environment, such as through agroecology. The link between
Goethe and Rudolf Steiner (the initiator of biodynamic agriculture) and phenomenology is explained,
and the chapter also introduces the work of cytogeneticist Barbara McClintock (discoverer of the
transposition of genes). Shifting to methodology in the hard natural sciences, Chapter 7 (Tuszyński)
brings the quantum perspective to the table. It presents a historical overview of the development and
application of quantum physics methodology to various fields of science beyond physics, especially
biology and consciousness, and explains how, in recent years, individual biological phenomena such as
photosynthesis and bird navigation have been experimentally and theoretically analysed using quantum methods, building the conceptual foundations for quantum biology. Quantum concepts have also
been employed to explain metabolism and how processes scale with body size and with each other.
The chapter explains how several proposals, especially the Orch OR hypothesis, have been put forth
in an effort to introduce a scientific basis to the theory of consciousness, and discusses the merits and
potential extensions of these approaches. The final chapter in this section (Chapter 8, Smitsman and
Currivan) rounds up by proposing a way to heal our relationship with Gaia by offering a wholeworldview that addresses the many fragmented perspectives of our world and life and offers a more unified
understanding of what has now become the greatest existential challenge our species has ever faced
Introduction to the Book
the world is facing than a sole reliance on mainstream science and concludes by outlining how
inter-science cooperation may function. Chapter 3 (McAllister and Chikukwa) continues with
the critique of developmentalism, structured as a series of musings between a community activist
and a political ecologist in Zimbabwe’s Eastern Highlands. Lamenting the erosion of bio-cultural
diversity, knowledge and social connection through colonial interventions since the end of the nineteenth century, it suggests how farming approaches that reconnect people to one another and their
landscape are being undermined by coercive power relations and sometimes violent environments.
Yet throughout this persists the community knowledge of the spirits that inhabit the natural world,
the ancestors and the sacred places, and the need to preserve and maintain relationships with these.
In particular, the relationship between mermaids and the recent devastating cyclones is discussed,
demonstrating the striking coexistence of different worldviews.
Chapter 4 (Milne) turns to a thoughtful philosophical reflection on reconnecting with the ancient
sense of nature as originally intuited in cosmological myths and later with the rise of Greek philosophy.
It demonstrates how the rational and the ethical were once always connected, and that these provided a
society with its sense of being part of nature and of the greater cosmic order. Focusing on the example
of ownership and right use of property, it traces the rise of natural law in the Middle Ages and how
the emergence of the mechanistic vision of nature in the seventeenth century led to Western society
losing its participatory relationship with nature, with the consequences of commercial exploitation and
environmental abuse. It concludes on a positive note with the reminder that all people have an innate
sense of the whole and a moral call to live in harmony with nature. Chapter 5 (Cox) takes the example
of soil to explore non-dualism from an eco-psychology perspective. This chapter suggests that the current move in the environmental humanities to develop a fuller picture of human relationships to soil
will be thwarted if it doesn’t overtly challenge the assumptions of modern dualistic culture. Building
on previous works that discuss human relationships to both ‘inner soil’ and ‘outer soil’, it proposes
eco-psychology as a framework not only to highlight the problematic assumptions that inform many
modern perspectives about soil, but also to provide an alternative way forward which includes, simultaneously, acknowledging soil on its own terms, encouraging human relationships with soil and understanding humans as soil. It concludes by proposing three non-dualistic frameworks for consideration:
eco-feminism, Buddhism and indigenous perspectives. Similarly, calling for a new kind of science
and perspective for seeing the world, Chapter 6 (Brook) proposes the alternative scientific methodology of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, which countered both the prevailing vitalism and mechanistic
ways of seeing the world which dominated the science of his time (1749–1832). This chapter explains
how Goethe’s approach was of an informed holism that did not reject science but aimed to direct its
path towards a more sensitive appreciation of the generative power of nature, which he called a ‘delicate empiricism’. Using human faculties such as imagination and intuition, Goethe’s approach could
inform new ways of engaging with the environment, such as through agroecology. The link between
Goethe and Rudolf Steiner (the initiator of biodynamic agriculture) and phenomenology is explained,
and the chapter also introduces the work of cytogeneticist Barbara McClintock (discoverer of the
transposition of genes). Shifting to methodology in the hard natural sciences, Chapter 7 (Tuszyński)
brings the quantum perspective to the table. It presents a historical overview of the development and
application of quantum physics methodology to various fields of science beyond physics, especially
biology and consciousness, and explains how, in recent years, individual biological phenomena such as
photosynthesis and bird navigation have been experimentally and theoretically analysed using quantum methods, building the conceptual foundations for quantum biology. Quantum concepts have also
been employed to explain metabolism and how processes scale with body size and with each other.
The chapter explains how several proposals, especially the Orch OR hypothesis, have been put forth
in an effort to introduce a scientific basis to the theory of consciousness, and discusses the merits and
potential extensions of these approaches. The final chapter in this section (Chapter 8, Smitsman and
Currivan) rounds up by proposing a way to heal our relationship with Gaia by offering a wholeworldview that addresses the many fragmented perspectives of our world and life and offers a more unified
understanding of what has now become the greatest existential challenge our species has ever faced