If humans do not listen to the cry of life and the environment,
they will not be able to find a breakthrough to solve the imminent problems faced by humans.
That is why humanities should answer the call of ecology.
Why Ecological Humanities?
Ecological Humanities is a convergence study of humanities and ecology, a new field of study that emerged in the early 21st century. The background of the creation of ecological humanities lies in the global environmental crisis that humans face. It is a new paradigm starting from the recognition that the dualist perspective separating humans from nature or the perspective of one discipline focused on specialization cannot solve problems. Leading universities around the world, such as Princeton University, University of Oxford, UCLA, and UC Santa Barbara, are researching an integrated vision of ecology, environmental science, and humanities to find answers to global problems. In the meantime, two disciplines (humanities and natural science), which were recognized as completely different fields and seemed to have no common area, are leading the paradigm shift through mobility that lowers barriers and crosses over.
Collaboration of Humanities and Natural Sciences
Humans and the environment are in a state of ‘entanglement’ that is connected to each other even though they seem separate. The environment is connected not only with humans, but also with all other living and inanimate objects, and is deeply involved in human culture, politics, institutions, morals, and ethics. As the environment changes, human relationships change, and these changes affect the formation of values along with changes in human life. Like the domino phenomenon, changes in the environment become the basis for all changes. Ecological humanities, which was born as part of an effort to explain the entanglement between humans and the environment and find clues about relationships, seeks realistic answers to complex questions such as politics, morals, and religion that lie behind ecological problems. This is possible through collaboration of the Humanities and Natural Sciences. From a non-anthropocentric point of view, Ecological Humanities is interdisciplinary in that it forms a new concept of interdisciplinary convergence and deeply explores the problematics of human values and human dignity related to environmental issues.
Textbook of Ecological Humanities with Theory and Practice
Exploration and discussion of Ecological Humanities, which seeks to find out and practice what it takes to create an Earth where humans can live healthy and peaceful lives, should not only remain in academia, but should be brought into public discussion. The two authors of this book, majoring in the Humanities and Natural Sciences, specifically diagnose the ecological and environmental problems of the present and the future related to nature, environment, development, climate, and food based on rich theoretical and practical experience. In addition, they encourage readers’ discussion and conversation at the point where the perspectives of humanities and natural sciences intersect, away from the unilateral view pursued by existing discourses of Humanities and Ecology.