Analysis Of David Abram's The Spell Of The Sensuous

David Abram’s book, “The Spell of the Sensuous” is an exploration of the relationship between humans and the Earth. His philosophical viewpoints are biased, which gives the reader room for interpretation and argumentation. In an unknown author’s analyses of this piece, he/she firmly agrees with Abram’s “strong denunciation of the Western worldview” (1), but rejects Abram’s negative views about the hard sciences, and proposes strong arguments for each of those perspectives. The author’s thesis, although intricate and lengthy, effectively portrays the arguments he/she presents in his/her essay. In the first part of the author’s thesis, he/she thoroughly walks the reader through each reason he/she agrees with Abram’s denunciation of Western views; the author believes that it is more than acceptable in the Western culture to disrespect nature and other people. He/she utilizes the first

He/she cites specific events, such as deforestation in the Amazon rainforest in order to “make way for new economic, industrial, agriculture grounds” (2), and suggests that “floods, droughts, global warming, pollution, deforestation, mass extinction, to name a few, are all repercussions of our disturbance…” (3). In the author’s third paragraph, he/she supports Abrams argument that “…human specialness [has] regularly been utilized by human groups to justify the exploitation not just of other organisms, but of other humans as well (other nations, other races or simply the “other” sex…)” (3). The author effectively supports this statement by referencing the “gross institutionalized discrimination against people of different color under the Apartheid regime in South Africa…” (3), Nazi Germany, and the discrimination against the LGBT society. The evidence that the author uses to support his assertions is both powerful and