As a philosopher, John Passmore has defended Western civilization against the charge that such societies "can solve their ecological problems only if they abandon the analytical, critical approach which has been their peculiar glory and go in search of a new ethics, a new metaphysics, a new religion." We do indeed face daunting ecological crises, Passmore states, but the best hope for solving them lies in "a more general adherence to a perfectly familiar ethic."

Born in Manly, New South Wales, Australia, on September 9, 1914, Passmore earned his B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Sydney, where he taught philosophy from 1935 to 1949. He then served on the faculties of Otago University in New Zealand and the Australian National University, holding the chair of philosophy at the latter from 1959 to 1979. The best known...