Jainism and Ecology: Nonviolence in the Web of Life (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780945454342)

The twenty-five-hundred-year-old tradition of Jainism, which emphasizes nonviolence as the only true path leading to liberation, offers a worldview seemingly compatible with the goals of environmental activism.

But can Jainism adopt a sociocentric environmentalism without compromising its own ascetic principles and spiritual tradition? How does traditional Jain cosmology view the natural world? How might a Jain ethical system respond to decisions regarding the development of dams, the proliferation of automobiles, overcrowding due to overpopulation, or the protection of individual animal species? Can there be a Jain environmental activism that addresses both the traditional concern for individual self-purification and the contemporary dilemma of ecosystem degradation? The voices in this volume reflect the dynamic nature of the Jain faith and its willingness to engage in discussion on a modern social issue.

Author: Christopher Key Chapple
ISBN-10: 0945454341
ISBN-13: 9780945454342
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Language: English
Published: 09/01/2002
Pages: 304
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.87lbs
Size: 8.32h x 5.88w x 0.63d