An excerpt from David Abram's book Becoming an Animal – Earthly Cosmology (HOST, Brno 2024), from the final thirteenth chapter “Conclusion / In the Heart of the Heart of the World” (pp. 347-354); translation: Jiří Zemánek. According to a story that was once passed down in various forms among numerous indigenous peoples around the world — among Aboriginal elders in Australia and indigenous storytellers in North America, among the ancient Maya…
Tag: Ecophilosophy
David Abram: The Language of Things
David Abram is a leading American ecophilosopher, storyteller, visionary, and one of America's finest nature writers. In his work, which addresses critical environmental and ecological issues today, he combines the philosophical tradition of phenomenology with the rich lessons of the animist worldview of indigenous cultures. He is the author of The Spell of the Sensuous (1996; Czech: Kouzlo smyslů, DharmaGaia 2013) and Becoming Animal…
Freya Mathews: Life with Animals
This article by Freya Mathews was originally published under the title 'Living with Animals' in Animal Issues (vol I, no I, 1997. pp 4-16); translated by Jiří Zemánek. Freya Mathews is also the author of Without Animals Life Is Not Worth Living / Bez zvítár život nemá cenu žit (Ginninderra Press 2016), in which, in a gripping story about a pig named Pookie and a philosopher…
Freya Mathews: As Nature Wishes
Freya Mathews is an Associate Professor of Environmental Philosophy at La Trobe University, Australia. Mathews’ philosophy is rooted in panpsychism, an approach that sees mentality as fundamental to the natural world. Her current main interests include the development of ecological civilization; indigenous (Australian and Chinese) perspectives on “sustainability” and how these perspectives can be adapted to the context of contemporary global society; the return of humans to the wild…
David Abram: Animism and the Alphabet / What a Mystery the Air Is
Two excerpts from the book by American ecophilosopher David Abram The Magic of the Senses / Perception and Language in a More Than Human World (DharmaGaia, Prague 2013): the first excerpt “Animism and the Alphabet” is from the 4th chapter of the same name (pp. 154-155, 163-164); the second excerpt “What a Mystery Air Is” is from the last 7th chapter of Remembering Air (pp. 271-273, pp. 310-313). Translated by Michaela Melechovská and Jiří…
Border Patrol: An Interview with David Abram
This interview by Jeremy Hayward with American ecophilosopher David Abram about his book The Spell of the Sensuous (Pantheon Books, New York 1996; in Czech Kozlo smyslů. DhramaGaia 2013) was originally published under the title “The Boundary Keeper” in the magazine Shambhala Sun (May 1997). It was first printed in Czech in an abridged version in the cultural weekly A2 (19 / 7.5. 2008) and was subsequently published…
David Abram: The Invisible World
This essay by American ecophilosopher David Abram was first published under the title “The Invisibles” as an introductory article in Parabola magazine (volume 31, number 1, Spring 2006). It was published in Czech in the anthology of the author’s texts Procitnutí do živé země (OPS Nymburk 2008, pp. 77-93, Czech translation by Jiří Zemánek and Barbora Svatá). The essay is also part of the author’s book Becoming Animal: An…
David Abram: On the Ecology of Language
An excerpt from Chapter 4 (The Body of Language) of the book by American ecophilosopher David Abram The Magic of the Senses – Perception and Language in a More Than Human World (DharmaGaia, Prague 2013, pp. 103-107); translated by Michalea Melechovská and Jiří Zemánek. In our own time, it is precisely language, understood as an exclusively human characteristic, that is most often used as evidence of the excellence of the human race in…
David Abram: The Ecology of Magic or on the Intelligence of Spiders
Excerpt from David Abram's book The Spell of the Sensuous / Perception and Language in a More-than-Human World (DharmaGaia 2009, pp. 32-38; original: The Spell of the Sensuous. Pantheon Books, New York 1996); Czech translation by Michaela Melechovská and Jiří Zemánek. A few months after my arrival in Bali, I left the village where I was staying to visit one of the island's pre-Hindu sites.…
David Abram: It is a country that is truly intelligent, not a lonely humanity...
David Abram (born 1957) is an American ecophilosopher, cultural ecologist, magician, and storyteller, and one of the most inspiring ecological thinkers of our time. In his work, he combines the philosophical tradition of phenomenology with environmental and ecological issues. The work of the French phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty provided a fundamental impetus for his work. As a storyteller and magician, he has lived and worked with indigenous magicians in Indonesia, Nepal, and…