In this timely and challenging book, Michael Bonnett asks how education should respond to environmental concerns. He shows that the kind of searching enquiry needed to address this question exposes profound metaphysical issues about the meaning of nature and our relationship to it. The resolution of these issues, he suggests, is decisive for our understanding of ourselves and of our place in the greater scheme of things.
Retrieving Nature explores the idea of a right relationship with nature where sustainability is thought of not simply as a policy but as a frame of mind. It argues that this frame of mind is an essential feature of authentic human consciousness, going to the heart of knowledge, truth and value. In this way, the book develops a post-humanist perspective that poses fundamental questions about the nature, purpose and practice of education.