In Light of Our Differences: How Diversity in Nature and Culture Makes Us HumanMost scientists would agree that a sixth mass extinction is on the horizon unless radical changes are made in how Western society treats nature. At the same time, another extinction crisis is unfolding: the loss of many of the world's languages. More and more work in applied biology, anthropology, linguistics, and other related fields is now driven by the assumption that we are approaching a threshold of irreversible loss, that events during the next few decades will decide whether we cross over into a fundamentally changed and significantly diminished world. This leads to a very simple question that has not, until now, been answered satisfactorily: Why should anyone care? David Harmon takes a unique approach to answering this essential question by drawing on insights from conservation biology, evolutionary theory, linguistics, geography, psychology, philosophy, and ethics. His interconnected discussion explores the works of Voltaire, A.O. Lovejoy, Darwin, Wittgenstein, William James, Dobzhansky, and many others to explain why everyone must be concerned about the loss of diversity. When more and more elemental differences are erased from the natural world and human societies, the field of possible experience becomes more constricted and our essential humanity becomes jeopardized. The very reason our planet can be said to be alive is because an amazing variety of organisms, streams of human thought and behavior, and geophysical features exist that provide a congenial setting for the interworkings of nature and culture. Harmon's timely, important book elucidates how as we lose diversity, we risk losing ourselves. |
Contents
Diversity Globalization and the Roots of Endangerment | 5 |
THE CONVERGING EXTINCTION CRISES | 19 |
Measuring the Past Predicting the Future | 33 |
Copyright | |
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Other editions - View all
In Light of Our Differences: How Diversity in Nature and Culture Makes Us Human David Harmon No preview available - 2002 |
In Light of Our Differences: How Diversity in Nature and Culture Makes Us Human David Harmon No preview available - 2002 |
Common terms and phrases
become biocultural diversity biocultural presence biodiversity biological and cultural biological diversity biological species concept biologists Boswell century Chain chapter communities consciousness conservation cultural diversity Darwin definition dialects discussion distinct Dobzhansky ecological ecosystems Endangered Languages endemic bird areas endemic languages environment environmental ethical Ethnologue evolution evolutionary example existence experience fact forms genetic Global Biodiversity Grimes Groombridge 1992 groups guages Harmon Heywood human humankind hunter-gatherer indigenous individual IUCN Red List James kind language death linguistic linguistic diversity living logical loss Lovejoy Maffi Manx mass extinction means megadiversity countries million mind modal points monothetic Morris Swadesh mother tongue nature and culture organisms percent philosopher plants polythetic morality population principle of plenitude reason religions sense sity Skutnabb-Kangas 2000 social speakers speciation species and languages species concept things thought tion trends tural unity variety Voltaire Whewell Wilson world's languages