Australian philosopher From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Freya MathewsFAHA is an Australianenvironmental philosopher whose main work has been in the areas of ecological metaphysics and panpsychism.[1][2][3][4][5] Her current special interests are in ecological civilization; indigenous (Australian and Chinese) perspectives on "sustainability" and how these perspectives may be adapted to the context of contemporary global society; panpsychism and critique of the metaphysics of modernity; and wildlife ethics and rewilding in the context of the Anthropocene.[6][7]
Freya Mathews in 2018
Mathews has been teaching in Australian universities since 1979.[8] She currently holds the post of Adjunct Professor of Environmental Philosophy at La Trobe University. Mathews is the author of several books and over seventy articles on ecological philosophy, metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and politics.[8] In addition to her research activities she manages a private biodiversity reserve in northern Victoria, Australia.[9] She is a fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.[9]
Mathews's philosophy features a holistic approach to environmental ethics with a metaphysical basis. Particularly, she draws from Baruch Spinoza's notion of "ethic of interconnectedness", which treats the features of the natural world as attributes of the same underlying substance.[10] Her advocacy of ontopoetics, which she described as a meaningful communicative exchanges between self and the world, is an aspect to this philosophical view.[11] She also promotes a kind of ecocentrism to address and sustain inconvenient, and time-consuming conservation practice.[12]
The Ecological Self, Routledge, London, 1991. Reissued 1993; paperback 1994
For Love of Matter: A Contemporary Panpsychism, SUNY Press, Albany, 2003
Journey to the Source of the Merri, Ginninderra Press, Canberra, 2003
Reinhabiting Reality: Towards a Recovery of Culture, SUNY Press, Albany, 2005
Ardea: a Philosophical Novella, Punctum Books, New York, 2016
Without Animals Life is not Worth Living, Ginninderra Press, Adelaide, 2016
Oppy, Graham; Trakakis, Nick (2010). A Companion to Philosophy in Australia and New Zealand. Melbourne: Monash University Publishing. pp.22, 28, 161–164, 241–242, 335.
Canfield, John (2012). Philosophy of Meaning, Knowledge and Value in the Twentieth Century: Routledge History of Philosophy Volume 10. Oxon: Routledge. p.258. ISBN978-1-134-93573-4.
