Contemporary ideas of nature were largely shaped by schools of thought from Western cultural history and philosophy until the present-day concerns with environmental change and biodiversity conservation. There are many different ways of conceptualising nature in epistemological terms, reflecting the tensions between the polarities of humans as masters or protectors of nature and as part of or outside of nature.

The book shows how nature is today the focus of numerous debates, calling for an approach which goes beyond the merely technical or scientific. It adopts a threefold – critical, historical and cross-disciplinary – approach in order to summarise the current state of knowledge. It includes contributions informed by the humanities (especially history, literature and philosophy) and social sciences, concerned with the production and circulation of knowledge about "nature" across disciplines and across national and cultural spaces. The volume also demonstrates the ongoing reconfiguration of subject disciplines, as seen in the recent emergence of new interdisciplinary approaches and the popularity of the prefix "eco-" (e.g. ecocriticism, ecospirituality, ecosophy and ecofeminism, as well as subdivisions of ecology, including urban ecology, industrial ecology and ecosystem services). Each chapter provides a concise overview of its topic which will serve as a helpful introduction to students and a source of easy reference.

This text is also valuable reading for researchers interested in philosophy, sociology, anthropology, geography, ecology, politics and all their respective environmentalist strands.

Introduction: Rethinking the idea of nature

Aurélie Choné, Isabelle Hajek & Philippe Hamman

Part I – Values and actions

1 Environmental ethics

Catherine Larrère

2 Ecosophy

Hicham-Stéphane Afeissa

3 Ecospirituality

Aurélie Choné

4 Ecopsychology

Dennis L. Merritt

Part II – Writings and representations

5 The aesthetics of nature

Nathalie Blanc

6 Ecocriticism

Emmanuelle Peraldo

7 Epistemocritical perspectives on nature

Laurence Dahan

Part III – Movements, activism and societies

8 From Lebensreform to political ecology

Catherine Repussard

9 Ecofeminism

Margot Lauwers

10 From environmental sociology to ecosociologies

Graham Woodgate

11 From anthropogeography to ethnoecology

Éric Navet

Part IV – Renewed ecologies

12 Rethinking rural nature in the era of ecocide

Owain Jones

13 Urban ecology

Isabelle Hajek and Jean-Pierre Lévy

14 Nature, environment, health

Lionel Charles

15 Sustainable urbanism

Philippe Hamman

16 Industrial ecology

Nicolas Buclet

17 The ecosystem services paradigm

Roldan Muradian

Part V – Human–animal

18 Ecocide, ethnocide and civilizations

Éric Navet

19 Animal studies

Roland Borgards

20 Constructing an animal history

Éric Baratay

21 Environmental humanities

Sabine Wilke

Conclusion: How nature matters

Aurélie Choné, Isabelle Hajek and Philippe Hamman