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Rating: 
Summary: A thoughtful and moderate defense of democratic humanism.
Review: ...Ferry sees deep ecology (or what Americans would call deep ecology) as fundamentally at odds with democracy. Essentially, we may read his critique as claiming that, while democracy incorporates an open-ended dialogue over the good, deep ecology promotes a singular vision of what is good. Deep ecology is biocentric, placing humankind squarely in the midst of nature; democracy, in contrast, is humanistic. Deep ecology promotes a dissolution of the subject; democracy places the subject at its core. In exploring the tension between deep ecology and democracy (but not, it should be noted, between environmentalism as such), Ferry draws on a few well-illustrated examples, including case studies of Medieval trials of animals, developments in German Romanticism, and Nazi ideology. The chapters on Nazism are especially interesting - although it is made clear that deep ecology is not a form of fascism; only that there are certain paralles in how each addresses the question of democracy and modernity. The book is well-written and well-argued. In contrast to the stereotypical French philosopher (at least as many Americans have been exposed to French philosophy), Ferry's writing is elegant and clear, and he avoids obfuscation. I have used portions of this book in introductory classes, and plan to assign it in an upcoming undergraduate seminar.
Rating:
Summary: A thoughtful and moderate defense of democratic humanism.
Review: ...Ferry sees deep ecology (or what Americans would call deep ecology) as fundamentally at odds with democracy. Essentially, we may read his critique as claiming that, while democracy incorporates an open-ended dialogue over the good, deep ecology promotes a singular vision of what is good. Deep ecology is biocentric, placing humankind squarely in the midst of nature; democracy, in contrast, is humanistic. Deep ecology promotes a dissolution of the subject; democracy places the subject at its core. In exploring the tension between deep ecology and democracy (but not, it should be noted, between environmentalism as such), Ferry draws on a few well-illustrated examples, including case studies of Medieval trials of animals, developments in German Romanticism, and Nazi ideology. The chapters on Nazism are especially interesting - although it is made clear that deep ecology is not a form of fascism; only that there are certain paralles in how each addresses the question of democracy and modernity. The book is well-written and well-argued. In contrast to the stereotypical French philosopher (at least as many Americans have been exposed to French philosophy), Ferry's writing is elegant and clear, and he avoids obfuscation. I have used portions of this book in introductory classes, and plan to assign it in an upcoming undergraduate seminar.
Rating:
Summary: Ferry thoughtful book
Review: In this book, Luc Ferry uproots the animal rights movement and the ecology movement. He does this because of these movement anti-humanist thrust. But Ferry is not against these animal rights or the enviroment. He just thinks that we should protect the enviroment in the name of man and not the protect it in the name of rocks and .
Rating:
Summary: Ferry thoughtful book
Review: Luc Ferry raises some very important and pressing questions about the implied praxis behind deep ecology. Does the vision of society espoused by deep ecology depend on an authoritarian social structure? Does deep ecology demand a level of political correctness which places its premises beyond question? Ferry is not the first to raise these questions. The Institute for Social Ecology, led by Murray Bookchin, has made the critique of deep ecology its bread and butter. Of course, there are plenty of ideologues within radical ecology, but they do not make up the whole story. Particularly glaring is Ferry's one-sided depiction of eco-feminism. In fact, some eco-feminist work in the U.S. has been particularly sharp at questioning the orthodoxies of both radical ecology and feminism. The questions which occupy Ferry should be asked by every person who is involved in radical ecology, and many of his criticisms are on-target for a specific body of work. But he doesn't bother to see the whole picture, and readers should be careful to read beyond the quotes cited by Ferry and to study deep ecology and ecofeminism on their own terms.
Rating: 
Summary: Luc Ferry's Polemics
Review: Luc Ferry raises some very important and pressing questions about the implied praxis behind deep ecology. Does the vision of society espoused by deep ecology depend on an authoritarian social structure? Does deep ecology demand a level of political correctness which places its premises beyond question? Ferry is not the first to raise these questions. The Institute for Social Ecology, led by Murray Bookchin, has made the critique of deep ecology its bread and butter. Of course, there are plenty of ideologues within radical ecology, but they do not make up the whole story. Particularly glaring is Ferry's one-sided depiction of eco-feminism. In fact, some eco-feminist work in the U.S. has been particularly sharp at questioning the orthodoxies of both radical ecology and feminism. The questions which occupy Ferry should be asked by every person who is involved in radical ecology, and many of his criticisms are on-target for a specific body of work. But he doesn't bother to see the whole picture, and readers should be careful to read beyond the quotes cited by Ferry and to study deep ecology and ecofeminism on their own terms.
Rating:
Summary: Accurate yet misleading
Review: This book is an astute critique of some of the naive and even undemocratic tendencies in Deep Ecology. But it is unfair to associate Deep Ecology with fascism without pointing out that fascism has other political heirs far more powerful than any ecologist.
The book leaves you feeling the author prefers needling theories to grappling with the ecological crisis in its true depth. This can't be done from the calculative, rationalist basis he finds comfortable. If Deep Ecology needs a new basis, Ferry gives few clues what that might be and settles instead for enlightened smugness.
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