The Value of Life

Description

Debate on the threat to humanity posed by the massive and widespread loss of biological diversity has largely emphasized economic and ecological consequences. In The Value of Life, a leading social scientist adds a critical new dimension. Stephen R. Kellert explores the actual and perceived importance of biological diversity for humankind's physical, emotional, intellectual, and even spiritual well-being. Kellert identifies ten basic values, which he describes as biologically based, inherent human tendencies that are greatly influenced and moderated by culture, learning, and experience. Throughout, Kellert argues that the preservation of biodiversity is fundamentally linked to human well-being as he illustrates the importance of biological diversity to the human sociocultural and psychological condition. His discussion provides the reader with a deeper understanding of how humans depend on a vast matrix of affiliations with other living things to achieve lives rich in meaning and value.

First Sentence

THIS BOOK is about the value of living diversity-how these values are integral to what it means to be fully human, yet how they are increasingly threatened by a massive hemorrhaging of life on earth.

Excerpt

THIS BOOK is about the value of living diversity-how these values are integral to what it means to be fully human, yet how they are increasingly threatened by a massive hemorrhaging of life on earth.

Subjects

Other Editions

• The Value of Life: Biological Diversity And Human SocietyHardcoverIsland Press1995-10-01
• The Value of LifePaperbackIsland Press1997-03-01
• The value of lifeIsland Press1996-01-01
• The value of lifeIsland Press [for] Shearwater Books1996-01-01