{"product_id":"my-animals-flowers-9781350526785","title":"My Animals \u0026 Flowers: Lessons from the Natural World","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e Translated into English for the first time, \u003ci\u003eMy Animals\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eFlowers \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003ebring forth Theodor Lessing’s visionary philosophy of need in an idiosyncratic series of musings on the natural world, which range from light-hearted to darkly shadowed.\u003c\/b\u003e Full of imagination, wit, and insight into the nature and history of living species, they demonstrate Lessing’s brilliant ability to combine biological observation with social, psychological, political, historical, educational, and above all, philosophical thoughts.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGrimly pessimistic about human society, Lessing found both a mirror and a refuge in the world of animals and flowers. In observing nature and attributing all type of human characteristics to animals and plants, he exposes the fusing of nature and culture, and – in dialogue with the natural world – confronts a whole cluster of political questions from the question of equality for women and marital fidelity to the pollution of cities and man’s destruction of the environment. Much of this work, sketching out the implications of an atomic age for example, has proved uncannily prophetic.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTo read this book is to enter into a curious and deeply sensitive world, in which to peer down at a colony of ants is to be reminded of ‘giant nations, each in conflict with the others’, and to catch a glimpse of bright poppies in a cornfield is to be submerged in a chain of thoughts from St Augustine to David Hume. Amongst the autobiographical reflections, Lessing weaves in critical observations of Western civilization, and critique of human culture as a destructive and disfiguring influence in the natural world. Ultimately, his philosophy of need shows how civilization comes at the expense of nature, ringing true with the climate of our times.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication date:\u003c\/strong\u003e 22 January 2026\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePage count:\u003c\/strong\u003e 336\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e Height 236 mm; Width 154 mm; Thickness 24 mm\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/strong\u003e Bloomsbury Publishing PLC\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e Hardback\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/strong\u003e 9781350526785\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Prof. Theodor Lessing","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":50170032554234,"sku":"9781350526785","price":159.3,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0522\/4297\/2845\/files\/9781350526785.jpg?v=1787617455","url":"https:\/\/shulphink.com\/products\/my-animals-flowers-9781350526785","provider":"Shulph Ink","version":"1.0","type":"link"}