No abstract

No abstract

This paper examines the significance and originality of Hobbes's use of 'mind', rather than 'soul', in his writings on human nature. To this end, his terminology in the discussion of the 'faculties of the mind' in The

CURRENTLY one of the most remarkable and diverse assemblages of plant and animal life, the moist forests of the tropics, is facing the prospect of almost total destruction. At the end of a recent international symposium on the ecology and management of tropical forest resources the participants demanded a statement of concern over this alarming prospect, and in recent years many similar pleas have been heard. 1.2 The statement was founded on the belief, expressed by foresters, biologists and economists alike, that arrangements for the protection of tropical forests are inadequate to ensure the long term survival of these forests for the benefit of man. At first sight this deficiency may be difficult to appreciate. Television and lavishly illustrated publications are constantly drawing our attention to the beauty and mystery of the tropical forest and highlighting the vastness and remoteness of the areas concerned. The commentary or the text may caution us about the precariousness and fragility of the complex ecosystem which they are describing but the impression of a vast and limitless resource remains. We are probably all aware that much of central South America is still covered in forest undisturbed by modern man. Nevertheless, it is an inescapable fact that an enormous area of forest, approximately equal to the entire area of England and Wales, is being destroyed each year by clear felling or burning. It is easy to calculate, using a simple estimate of the land area covered by tropical moist forest and the area being lost each year, that at the current rate of destruction well over half the world's tropical forests will have disappeared by the year 2000. There is no evidence that the rate of forest destruction is decreasing, indeed, the reverse was the case until the current world recession took a grip.Why is it that the prospect of the disappearance of large areas of tropical forest alarms serious students so much more than do the vociferous claims concerning endangered species and other conservation issues? Serious though these other problems are, they are only symptomatic of the degradation of our environment

No abstract