The Reenchantment of the World is a perceptive study of our scientific consciousness and a cogent and forceful challenge to its supremacy. Focusing on the rise of the mechanistic idea that we can know the natural world only by distancing ourselves from it, Berman shows how science acquired its controlling position in the consciousness of the West. He analyzes the holistic, animistic tradition-destroyed in the wake of Scientific Revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries-which viewed man as a participant in the cosmos, not as an isolated observer. Arguing that the holistic world view must be revived in some credible form before we destroy our society and our environment, he explores the possibilities for a consciousness appropriate to the modern era. Ecological rather than animistic, this new world view would be grounded in the real and intimate connection between man and nature.

About the Author

Morris Berman is an Independent Scholar and Visiting Professor in Sociology at the Catholic University of America. His books include Coming to Our Senses, Wandering God, The Twilight of American Culture, and Dark Ages America.

Reviews
"This pioneering holistic work is still one of the best discussions of the spiritual havoc wrought by the 'disgodding' of nature and the split in the Western mind between facts and values."-Chip Brown, The List
"Morris Berman's book addresses what I consider to be the most important topic at our present moment in history. He is searching for the underpinnings of a new world view that can give rise to a culture capable of relating gently and self-sustainingly to the earth."-Frederick Ferre



Book Information
ISBN 9780801492259
Author Morris Berman
Format Paperback
Page Count 368
Imprint Cornell University Press
Publisher Cornell University Press
Weight(grams) 907g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 24mm