The Ethical Dimension of Human Attitude towards Nature :
A Muslim Perspective,
*[A5+] Hardback - 214 pages, 2nd Edition,
by Ibrahim Ozdemir,
Published by Insan Publications, Istanbul.
Description :
Philosopher İbrahim Özdemir’s interdisciplinary scholarship provides insight into contemporary environmental-ethical dilemmas and contributes to understanding the relationships between environmental studies, religion, and philosophy. In the second edition of The Ethical Dimension of Human Attitude towards Nature: A Muslim Perspective, Özdemir critically assesses historical perspectives on nature from Western philosophy and science, examines relevant ethical theories, and finally discusses contemporary metaphysical bases for environmental ethics.
The book offers a short, but engaging study in Islam and ecology, contributing most substantially to environmental discourse by relating work from Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, may Allah have mercy upon him. Özdemir discusses ethical perspectives on nature from Western philosophical history to quantum physics, from ecological science to Islamic studies, and his contribution to Islam and ecology is pertinent to environmental ethics. Primarily a philosopher, Özdemir adds to the environmental ethics literature critiquing worldview-shaping philosophical forces that
influence ethics and actions toward non-human nature.
In two brief sections on Islam (pp. 46-49, 158-69), Özdemir describes distortions of Islam in some environmental writings, proposes that Islam has value for a wider Abrahamic-environmental audience, and discusses nature according to select Muslim thinkers. Özdemir argues against claims that Islam provides another version of anthropocentric monotheism. Instead, he argues that nature’s sacrality remains intact in some Muslim writings, depicting the living world as a signpost pointing to God the Creator. Özdemir sees Islam’s environmental relevance extending to the environ-mentally minded in other Abrahamic traditions, Christianity and Judaism, where anthropocentrism has been extensively criticized. He posits that the conglomerative category of ‘Abrahamic’ traditions can flatten vital differences between the three.
Beyond his general discussion of Islamic environmental thought, Özdemir makes a significant contribution by elaborating on Said Nursi—the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Muslim leader in Turkey—as a resource for environmental thinking. Nursi’s evocative imagery of natural elements—stones, wind, fruit, waterways, clouds, birds—points toward the ‘All-Wise Maker’ of nature’s balance and abundance :
'' Now consider the flowers and fruits! Their smiles, tastes, beauties,
embroideries, and scents are each like an invitation to and menu
for the table of a Most Munificent Maker, an All-Compassionate
Bestower of Bounties; they are given as various menus and
invitations to each species of beings through their different colours,
scents, and tastes,'' (pp. 166-67).
About the Author :
Ibrahim Ozdemir (Ph.D., Middle East Technical University, 1996) is Professor of the History of Philosophy. His recent publications include Globalization, Ethics and Islam (ed., Ashgate, 2005) and Postmodern Thoughts: Essays on Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, and Postmodernity (in Turkish, Istanbul, 2002).
*Dimensions: 23.5 x 16 x 1.9cm.
