(((Knowledge Ecology)))

It’s the title of a fantastic looking new volume edited by Jeffrey Jerome Cohen and is published by Oliphaunt Books (itself an imprint of Punctum Books). I am including the book’s description below, but I encourage readers to visit the official website for a downloadable PDF and more information about the authors (there’s even mention of my nascent object-oriented ecology in Karl Steel’s wonderful essay, which I just finished reading for the first time).

With the move to open-access publishing on the rise I think scholars have a unique opportunity to make science, art, and philosophy part of contemporary culture again, and I think we should do all we can to support the efforts of those involved. Here is the publisher’s description of the book:

Brooklyn, NY: punctum books, 2012. 295 pages. ISBN-13: 978-0615625355.

Animal, Mineral, Vegetable examines what happens when we cease to assume that only humans exert agency. Through a careful examination of medieval, early modern and contemporary lifeworlds, these essays collectively argue against ecological anthropocentricity. Sheep, wolves, camels, flowers, chairs, magnets, landscapes, refuse and gems are more than mere objects. They act; they withdraw; they make demands; they connect within lively networks that might foster a new humanism, or that might proceed with indifference towards human affairs. Through what ethics do we respond to these activities and forces? To what futures do these creatures and objects invite us, especially when they appear within the texts and cultures of the “distant” past?