Dr. Seuss and Philosophy - Jacob M. Held [153]
15. Herman E. Daly, “Toward Some Operational Principles of Sustainable Development,” in Ecological Economics, Vol. 2, No. 1 (April 1990), 1–6.
16. See, for example, discussions of “social capital” in Donella Meadows, Indicators and Information Systems for Sustainable Development: A Report to the Balaton Group (Hartland Four Corners, Vt.: The Sustainability Institute, 1998), and Joseph Lewandowski and Gregory Streich, “Democratizing Social Capital: In Pursuit of Liberal Egalitarianism,” Journal of Social Philosophy 38 (2007), 588–604.
17. Christopher D. Stone, “Should Trees Have Standing? Toward Legal Rights for Natural Objects,” Southern California Law Review 45(2) (1972), 450–501. Citations here will be made to the latest reprinting, in Christopher D. Stone, Should Trees Have Standing? Law, Morality, and the Environment, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010).
18. Stone, Should Trees Have Standing?, 3.
19. Stone, Should Trees Have Standing?, 8.
20. There is a remarkable coincidence in timing between Stone’s influential article and Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax. Dr. Seuss’s book first hit bookstore shelves on August 12, 1971, according to the official website of Random House and Dr. Seuss Enterprises (www.seussville.com/lorax/). In the introduction to his book, Stone says he had the initial idea for his article in a class in the fall of 1971, had planned out the bulk of the article by October 1971, and published it in the spring of 1972 (Should Trees Have Standing, xiii). Now, we certainly can’t say that Stone got his idea from Dr. Seuss, but it seems odd to find that he has never addressed the similarities, as far as we can tell. In fact, Stone seems to find it strange, even inexplicable, that some of the responses to his article in the academic and public press were written in rhyme. We can’t decide whether Stone’s expressions of perplexity, and his steadfast refusal to talk about Seuss, are meaningful or merely disingenuous.
Chapter 18
1. Jon Agee, “The 500 Cats of Theodor Geisel,” Los Angeles Times Book Review, Book Review Holiday Special Section (December 3, 1995), 22.
2. Monroe C. Beardsley, “Monroe C. Beardsley: An Aesthetic Definition of Art,” in The Nature of Art: An Anthology, 2nd ed., ed. Thomas E. Wartenberg (Belmont, Calif.: Thomson Wadsworth, 2007), 232.
3. Paul Guyer, “The Origins of Modern Aesthetics,” in Blackwell Guide to Aesthetics, ed. Peter Kivy (Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 2004), 20.
4. Beardsley, “Aesthetic Definition,” 232.
5. See Monroe C. Beardsley, Aesthetics: Problems in the Philosophy of Criticism, 2nd ed. (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1981), 470.
6. Theodor Seuss Geisel, The Secret Art of Dr. Seuss, with an introduction by Maurice Sendak (New York: Random House, 1995), 60.
7. Gary D. Schmidt, “Playing to the Audience: A Critical Look at Dr. Seuss,” Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 16.1 (Spring 1991), 41.
8. See Philip Nel, Dr. Seuss: American Icon (New York: Continuum, 2004), 206, note 17.
9. See Arthur C. Danto, After the End of Art: Contemporary Art and the Pale of History (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press), esp. chapters 2 and 7.
10. See Danto, After the End of Art, chapter 11.
11. Judith Morgan and Neil Morgan, Dr. Seuss and Mr. Geisel: A Biography (New York: Da Capo, 1995), 81.
12. Morgan and Morgan, Dr. Seuss and Mr. Geisel, 82.
13. Quoted in Morgan and Morgan, Dr. Seuss and Mr. Geisel, 84.
14. See Arthur C. Danto, The Abuse of Beauty: Aesthetics and the Concept of Art (Chicago: Open Court, 2003), chapter 1.
15. Morgan and Morgan, Dr. Seuss and Mr. Geisel, 81.
16. Nel, Dr. Seuss: American Icon, 38. Nel reminds us that Seuss believed that his nonsensical verse helped children develop a much-needed sense of humor. Surely, developing a sense of humor might help children develop into moral adults. But Seuss seemed to think developing their moral character was secondary to developing their imaginations,