Tunguska or the Death of Nature

Climate change, environmental destruction, nutrition: all today's burning issues centre on nature. But what in fact do we mean when we talk about nature? What is it we are intent on protecting? Philosopher Michael Hampe presents some controversial answers.

Four men - a physicist, a philosopher, a biologist and a mathematician - are adrift in a ship on the sea. In dense fog, they get involved in a discussion about the Tunguska event which occurred in 1908 - the explosions and lightning that devastated a vast woodland area in Siberia. To this day, no one knows exactly what happened, and the four scholars seem unable to agree on any one explanation. Instead, the question of how the Tunguska mystery might be resolved by applying the established natural laws results in a principle debate on the definition of nature itself. Perhaps it is the world as it was before the intervention of homo sapiens? Or merely a game of chance? Is it intrinsically good or evil? Are humans part of it or not? Or is it ultimately nothing but a brainchild spawned by man's imagination? Michael Hampe stages a fictional debate on a cohesive concept of nature, the meaning of which we are all convinced we know. Climate change, nutrition and sustainability: all today's burning issues centre on nature. Nature has also been a central philosophical issue for 2000 years. The ideas and arguments from the past are an invaluable contribution to the current debate. Following his meditations on a perfect life (Das vollkommene Leben), Hampe has further honed his art of philosophical dialogue: this book is guaranteed to give you plenty of food for thought as well as keeping you entertained.