The Woods [Paperback]

In our modern, urbanized societies, our engagement with the natural world often seems distant and superficial. Human life is now far removed from its prehistoric origins, when humans dwelt deep within the forests and depended on them for their survival.

In this important book, Vladimir Bibikhin, one of Russias most influential twentieth-century philosophers, argues that, although most humans now live far from woods and forests, our existence remains profoundly linked to them. It was Aristotle who first appreciated their primal role, even deriving his notion of matterw from the Greek words for wood and forest. As timber, the woods may be seen as inanimate material, but at the same time they also constitute a living ecosystem and the source of energy and life. By opening up this duality, the woods are transformed from simple matter to a living environment, serving as a reminder that we belong to the world of biological life to a far greater extent than we usually think.

The Woods will be of interest to students and scholars in philosophy and the humanities generally and to anyone concerned with the environment and our relationship to the natural world.

Introduction 1

Lecture 1, 2 September 1997 6

Lecture 2, 9 September 1997 17

Lecture 3, 23 September 1997 31

Lecture 4, 30 September 1997 44

Lecture 5, 7 October 1997 56

Lecture 6, 14 October 1997 66

Lecture 7, 21 October 1997 77

Lecture 8, 28 October 1997 90

Lecture 9, 4 November 1997 103

Lecture 10, 11 November 1997 116

Lecture 11, 18 November 1997 126

Lecture 12, 25 November 1997 137

Lecture 13, 2 December 1997 147

Lecture 14, 9 December 1997 l3E