In this book, the authors show that the failure of public health arises, not from a failure of contemporary medicine, but from a failure of the philosophical assumptions upon which it rests. By exposing the limits of this philosophical framework, the authors suggest an alternative approach to health care, one that derives from a profoundly ecological and holistic philosophy of nature. They conclude that the advancement of community health depends on a comprehensive program of health education in which the responsibility for health is inextricably knit with a new consciousness of ecological stewardship. The authors postulate a holistic epistemology in which knowing is directed towards participation with nature rather than separation from it.