Ways of Being

A rich and inspiring look at ways in which the more-than-human world exists, as well as a sustained complaint about our stubborn refusal to see that existence. The examples here are incredibly numerous and varied, and Bridle does a great job at stitching them together into a coherent narrative. Their look at technology in the light of ecology has somewhat nuanced my techno-cynicism (although it has  added ammunition too), which I think is necessary as we are not going to live without omnipresent digital technology any time soon.

As a soon-to-be philosophy graduate, Ways of Being provided me with a lot of food for thought, but it also left me wanting … a stronger argument. What I mean is that Ways of Being is philosophical in spirit but not in discipline. There's so many links to be laid between Bridle's argument and philosophical currents of thought, but these are barely explored in the book.

As such, I want to give three philosophical recommendations for those interested in the themes of Ways of Being:

• Ecofeminism: Val Plumwood. I have to admit that I haven't yet read any of her books front-to-back, but what I've read from Feminism and the Mastery of Nature has been great. Her article “Nature, Self, and Gender” is an excellent primer.
• Enactivism: The Embodied Mind by Varela, Thompson and Rosch. Proposes a different look at the mind and cognition that fits very snugly with Bridle's views, and does so in a highly engaging way.
• Whatever the heck Bruno Latour is up to. I have no idea how to classify his work, but it's fascinating. In Facing Gaia (a collection of essays on ecology) he takes inspiration from Lynn Margulis and James Lovelock and puts forth a perspective on the ecological crisis that is as mind-altering as it is hard to internalize.