Nature and Sustainability

The human impact on the natural world is unsustainable, and the tendency to assign education the role of remedying the problem is increasing. However, since sustainability touches fundamentals of human life on many levels, effective education becomes a challenge. This book gives a historical and philosophical view of education that deals with nature and sustainability and highlights the ethical dilemmas that arise if we expect education to be the main promoter of sustainability. Lili-Ann Wolff discusses these issues by drawing from two of the most notable scholars in the Western intellectual tradition, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Michel Foucault. Rousseau's writings offer excellent examples of the role of both ethics and education in dealing with sustainability. And Foucault sets the stage for understanding such fundamental ethical and educational issues as matters of power that act in complex networks on both individual and social levels. The book meets the needs and interests of a diverse audience from educational, environmental and philosophical disciplines, but also many other readers having an interest in contemporary discussions about education, sustainability and nature.