September 10, 2009

Professor Proctor publishes books on science, nature

Director and Professor of Environmental Studies Jim Proctor recently published two books on the topic of nature.

Proctor edited Envisioning Nature, Science, and Religion (Templeton Press, 2009), a collection of 16 essays which examine and compare different aspects of five central metaphors of biophysical and human nature.

“Contemporary scholarship has given rise to several different modes of understanding biophysical and human nature, each of which is entangled with related notions of science and religion,” the publisher describes. “Envisioning Nature, Science, and Religion represents the culmination of three years of collaboration by an international group of fourteen natural scientists, social scientists, humanists, and theologians. The result is an intellectually stimulating volume that explores how the ideas of nature pertain to science and religion.”

Proctor co-authored New Visions of Nature: Complexity and Authenticity (Springer, 2009), an exploration of contemporary visions of nature which the authors believe have been deeply affected by the ongoing interaction of science, nature, and society.