In this third annual volume, philosophers and geographers examine the most basic ideas of place itself. Light (philosophy and environmental studies, the State U. of NY at Binghamton) and Smith (geography, Texas A&M) along with sixteen other scholars have contributed essays that range from expositions of particular places, such as one article examining the myth of the Inner Valleys as a Zionist place, to more general treatments of theoretical concerns involving the idea of place, such as an article seeking to answer the question: "can a sense of place be preserved?" Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
A growing literature testifies to the persistence of place as an incorrigible aspect of human experience, identity, and morality. Place is a common ground for thought and action, a community of experienced particulars that avoids solipsism and universalism. It draws us into the philosophy of the ordinary, into familiarity as a form of knowledge, into the wisdom of proximity. Each of these essays offers a philosophy of place, and reminds us that such philosophies ultimately decide how we make, use, and understand places, whether as accidents, instruments, or fields of care.
