I've yet to finish this chapter, but I was delighted to see The Peregrine make an appearance. It's one of my favourite books. I recently read Baker's biography where it is surmised that the reason he was able to observe peregrines so well was because of the effect of DDT, which made them sickly and slothful -- a scientific detail that only serves to reinforce the perspective you give here. On Klages, however, I do find myself wondering whether 'calculating reason' alone suffices to explain the behaviour of, say, modern, industrial 'farmers'. In their rape of the countryside, I see a kind of maniacal will-to-power and enchantment with technique, to which they then apply their reason, but which precedes, and is distinct from, that reason. Finally, I am reading a late essay by Toynbee, titled "The religious background of the present environmental crisis" (1972) in which he, of all people, advocates the abandonment of the monotheistic religions and the embrace of pantheism and Buddhism as way of reorienting our relationship with the natural world. I couldn't help thinking of you on DHL as I read it.
I've yet to finish this chapter, but I was delighted to see The Peregrine make an appearance. It's one of my favourite books. I recently read Baker's biography where it is surmised that the reason he was able to observe peregrines so well was because of the effect of DDT, which made them sickly and slothful -- a scientific detail that only serves to reinforce the perspective you give here. On Klages, however, I do find myself wondering whether 'calculating reason' alone suffices to explain the behaviour of, say, modern, industrial 'farmers'. In their rape of the countryside, I see a kind of maniacal will-to-power and enchantment with technique, to which they then apply their reason, but which precedes, and is distinct from, that reason. Finally, I am reading a late essay by Toynbee, titled "The religious background of the present environmental crisis" (1972) in which he, of all people, advocates the abandonment of the monotheistic religions and the embrace of pantheism and Buddhism as way of reorienting our relationship with the natural world. I couldn't help thinking of you on DHL as I read it.