This book argues that an attentive encounter with nature is of key importance for the development of an environmentally appropriate culture. The fundamental idea is that the environmental degradation that we are increasingly experiencing is best conceived as the consequence of a cultural mismatch: our cultures seem not to be appropriate to the natural environment in which we move and on which we depend in thoroughgoing ways. In addressing this problem, Thomas Heyd weaves together a rich tapestry of (...) perspectives on human interactions with the natural world, ranging from traditional modes of managing human communities, which include the natural environment, in Latin America, to the consideration of poetic travelogues, ecological restoration and botanic gardens. (shrink)

On the face of it, the expression "nature restoration" may seem an oxymoron, for one may ask whether it makes any sense to suppose that human beings could restore that which is not human. Several writers recently have argued that, strictly speaking, this is nonsense and, furthermore, that the conceptual confusion involved may lead to ethically problematic consequences. In this essay I begin by discussing the problematic perceived in the notion of nature restoration. I proceed to consider Japanese gardens and (...) earthworks, insofar as both types of art forms foreground the relationship of artefactuality to nature. I conclude that the counterintuitive way in which these arts engage us with nature may help us understand the manner in which nature restoration is plausible. (shrink)

Nature and culture are usually treated as opposites. Nature, on this conception, is on the wane as a result of culture. A fresh analysis of the relation between these two terms in the light of the notion of “cultural landscapes” is needed. This account allows for nature to be understood as an important, distinctive category, even while granting the constitutive role of the culturally structured gaze. Culture and nature need not be conceived in opposition to each other, for it makes (...) sense to speak of, and pursue, a culture of nature. These considerations have important consequences for natural heritage conservation. (shrink)

Industrial interventions in the landscape leave their imprint in a permanent way, but there remain options on how to deal with land even at that point in time. In this essay, three alternatives are considered: leaving such sites as they are, restoring them to a condition resembling their original state, or transforming them into artworks. The author focuses in particular on the third option in order to determine to what degree it is possible for artistic reclamation to redeem such blights (...) in the landscape. the work of art is beautiful to the degree that it opposes its own order to that of reality . Herbert Marcuse, 1978, p. 64. (shrink)

Nature and culture are usually treated as opposites. Nature, on this conception, is on the wane as a result of culture. A fresh analysis of the relation between these two terms in the light of the notion of “cultural landscapes” is needed. This account allows for nature to be understood as an important, distinctive category, even while granting the constitutive role of the culturally structured gaze. Culture and nature need not be conceived in opposition to each other, for it makes (...) sense to speak of, and pursue, a culture of nature. These considerations have important consequences for natural heritage conservation. (shrink)

This paper seeks to answer the question how environmental ethics is approached in Latin America. I begin by discussing a suitable method for interpreting the question of whether there is a culturally based ethics, given that one may focus either on theory or on actually existing moral practices. Next, I consider some of the possible sources of Latin America's distinctiveness, namely its professional, cultural, and economic-historical particularities, followed by a discussion of the practice and theory of environmental ethics extant in (...) the area. I claim that there is a concrete environmental ethics in Latin America, which can be described by the notions of community, resistance and autonomy, and suggest that this concrete ethic may be assessed both from a culture-internal and from a culture-external point of view. I close by proposing that Latin American environmental ethics may provide illuminating models for appropriate ways of acting in hybrid communities made up of human beings and nature. (shrink)

In order to develop sustainable relationships with the natural environment it is necessary to focus on approaches that may yield workable models of sustainability. Here I sample a few approaches from Latin America that point toward a promising model of sustainability. I argue that these approaches share the idea that the natural environment is in very close interdependence with human beings and their communities. I also outline the beliefs and practices of certain Latin American populations which exemplify this idea, and (...) conclude that the crucial feature for achieving sustainability is a particular type of cultural matrix. (shrink)

Attention is drawn to the threat posed by climate change to symbolically laden places, landscapes and landmarks, and suggested that, insofar as some of those sites are treated as sacred by certain populations, their disturbance may be especially problematic. Special consideration is given to the significance glacial retreat for local, nearby populations, and its importance from the point of view of climate justice and ethics is discussed. The potential value of iconic sites from the perspective of engagement and action on (...) climate change is considered. It is concluded that climate impacts on symbolically charged places in the landscape should be of significant concern, as well as interest, for policy and decision-making. (shrink)

Present environmental degradation has led some to argue that only an appeal to selfishness will “save the environment,” allegedly because appeals to “morality” necessarily are ineffective, while others have suggested that we need a “new, environmental ethic.” If we are interested in countering the degradation of the natural environment, we need to reconsider actual morality, how it is developed, and how it may take into account human activities affecting the natural world. Ultimately, we need to develop ways of knowing that (...) recognize the autonomy of nature. (shrink)

: An appeal is made to the foot travels of Matsuo Basho, especially his 1689 journey to northern Japan, reflected in his Narrow Road to the Interior, as examples of wandering. It is suggested that while the travels of a poetwanderer such as Basho are notably distinct from shamanic travels in some respects, they are similar in other important ways, for example in their capacity to give perspective to our everyday experience. Based on Basho's example, three aspects of wandering are (...) discussed that may be of aesthetic interest, and it is concluded that in the face of various technological and social developments in industrial societies that increasingly alienate us from our environment, wandering may help us to recover a sense of the depth of space, the real diversity of places, and our human lives in the larger context of nature. (shrink)

Locke's Essay concerning Human Understanding has generally been read as primarily concerned with epistemology. In particular, it has been claimed that the Essay attempts to defeat epistemological skepticism, but fails in this enterprise because of the veiling character of Locke's ideas. By way of reexamination of the texts in question I show that epistemological skepticism is not the topic of the Essay, and that there is not sufficient reason to claim that Locke's account of knowledge leads to epistemological skepticism. I (...) argue, moreover, that the motivating topic of the Essay is moral skepticism, and I explain the central role of ch. 8, book 2 in Locke's argumentation for the claim that we may achieve a science of morality. I conclude with an account of some of practical consequences of a science of morality, as conceived by Locke. (shrink)

Journal Name: Apeiron Issue: Ahead of print.

Physical science is coming to an increasingly clear understanding of natural environmental changes, their causes and their effects on the landscape. Human beings have lived through significant climate variability in historical periods, and through repeated periods of relatively sudden climate change, as well asmultiple other drastic natural events in prehistory. In this paper I propose that we should take into account the cultural dimension when considering adaptation to drastic natural events, such as powerful storms (hurricanes), whose intensity may grow as (...) a result of climate change. I discuss an example of a cultural pattern that offers an alternative conception of natural processes to the mainstream of Western societies, and point out how such alternative conceptions of the human‐natural relationship also imply alternative value systems. I conclude that a deeper understanding of the cultural dimension of human responses to drastic natural events may be of significant value in the development of resilience to events of the sort that characterise climate change. (shrink)

The aim of this chapter is to sketch some of the contributions of the environmental humanities to an understanding of climate change from the perspective of philosophy. Recently, the environmental humanities have become a recognised area of study, encompassing environmental orientations within the humanities. It is noted that, generally speaking, the humanities engage in a critical and reflective stance regarding ways of understanding the world, while the environmental humanities do so in relation to environmental matters. Four key themes, describing the (...) environmental humanities, namely, values and justice, narratives, temporalities, and the culture of nature, are identified. These themes subsequently are further explored by reflecting on the relation of climate change to various types of injustices, the role of catastrophist narratives, the importance of temporal dimensions, and the interaction of cultural conceptions of nature and human capacities to address this phenomenon. It is concluded that the approaches of the environmental humanities may be useful to reflect on how one may live with climate change. (shrink)

A causa del transporte de alta velocidad, de las tecnologías de comunicación instantáneas, de la ubicuidad de los teléfonos móviles, del alcance planetario de los programas de televisión transmitidos por satélite, de la inmersión cada vez más acelerada en el ciberespacio, de la globalización del comercio, de la proliferación dé idénticos centros comerciales, cadenas de supermercados, multinacionales, etc., el espacio parece achicarse, los lugares pierden su especificidad, y la naturaleza va desapareciendo de nuestra conciencia. En este ensayo propongo que el (...) caminar por el paisaje, pero atentamente, y de manera poco asistida por ayudas mecánicas, puede someterse a un análisis estético que nos puede ayudar en la recuperación de la profundidad del espacio, en el re-conocimiento de la diversidad real de los lugares, y en la percepción de nuestras vidas humanas en su contexto natural más amplio. Enfoco este tema tomando como guía al Poeta japonés Basho Matsuo. Empiezo el ensayo describiendo su hábito del caminar poético2 Después arguyo qué el caminar poético en ciertos aspectos se parece al viajar chamaluco. A continuación, esbozo el esquema de un análisis estético del caminar y concluyo proponiendo la práctica del caminar como una manera de ofrecer resistencia a los efectos deslocalizantes y an-estéticos plasmados en las tendencias anteriormente mencionadas de nuestras sociedades. (shrink)

Parece contradictorio que los seres humanos intentemos restaurar la naturaleza, ya que el término "naturaleza" parece significar la antítesis de lo creado por nosotros. En este ensayo propongo elucidar la problemática de la restauración de la naturaleza a base de la consideración de los jardines japoneses formales y de las obras de la tierra (earthworks), en cuanto que ambas formas de arte constituyen formas de aculturar la tierra de tal manera que la relación del artefacto entra en relación directa con (...) lo natural. Mi conclusión es que estas artes pueden servir de modelo a la restauración. (shrink)

This chapter considers the potential of this kind of indigenous site-specific installation for thinking afresh the relation of contemporary inhabitants with the land in the Northern Plains region. 'Medicine wheel' is the name given since the late 1800s to a kind of boulder structure found in the Northern Plains of North America. Medicine wheels are often situated on knolls overlooking the prairie, and are mostly found in Alberta and Saskatchewan, and less frequently in Montana and northern Wyoming. The medicine wheel (...) of Steel a great Blood warrior was built in 1940 as a memorial. Moreover, reports from Native consultants indicate that the Big Horn medicine wheel may have been used for vision quests. Medicine wheels seem to be, in Foucault's terms, 'places outside of all places; in their resistance to interpretation according to instrumental notions, they return our gaze unto the prairies, turned denatured, overgrazed cattle pastures, and unto the once verdant river valleys, turned into flooded, mega-project water reservoirs. (shrink)

In this paper I argue that the concept of pilgrimage provides a unifying trope for the otherwise seemingly unfocused travel accounts of Bashō’s Narrow Road to the Interior and Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland’s Voyage aux régions equinoxiales du Nouveau Continent. I begin with a brief description of debates regarding the notion of pilgrimage. After that I show how pilgrimage as trope may be applied to the texts of these authors. This is followed by an application of the classical (...) stages of pilgrimage to particular phases of Bashō’s and Humboldt’s recounted experiences. I conclude that pilgrimage offers an illuminating new way to understand the travel accounts of these two writers. (shrink)

En las diferentes culturas del mundo, el ambiente natural se percibe de diversas maneras, y en muchas sociedades no se considera como opuestos lo natural y lo cultural. En cuanto que la integridad del medio ambiente natural se ha convertido en algo muy preocupante, hay que preguntarse cómo concebir lo cultural en relación a lo natural para llegar a relacionarnos adecuadamente con la naturaleza. En este ensayo propongo que la naturaleza constituye una categoría importante y distintiva, que puede haber una (...) cultura adecuada a la protección de, y al respeto por, la naturaleza, y que la administración y restauración de áreas naturales no son necesariamente contrarias al objetivo de preservar la naturaleza. (shrink)

Paul Guyer has proposed that, despite Kant’s apparent avowals that judgements of beauty of things are made without consideration of the purposes that we have for them, purposes do enter into aesthetic judgements of “adherent beauty.” He even attributes to Kant the view that functionality is a necessary condition for the beauty of objects that have certain ends or functions. I consider his claims and propose that, according to Kant, the degree to which an object fulfills its ends may pose (...) a psychological – rather than a logical – factor in its aesthetic appreciation. I agree that judgements of beauty, with regard to many things, certainly are made in relation to the functions that we attribute to those things, but argue that these judgements, as such, are logically independent of whatever judgements are made regarding their functionality, even if in practice their functionality may impinge on our aesthetic judgements. (shrink)

In this article I explore the relation between vulnerability to rapid landscape change, on the one hand, and conceptions of land and responsibility for landscape, on the other. I begin by briefly discussing the notion of vulnerability to natural phenomena, and possible ways of addressing it. Next, I introduce some of the ways in which natural phenomena and processes have been perceived, and take note of the sense of responsibility toward landscape often expressed among peoples who are deeply rooted in (...) the land. I continue with a discussion of the basis of the respect that underlies this sense of responsibility and with an account of what respect amounts to in this context. After this I point out how respect for natural phenomena may lead to a lowering of vulnerability. I conclude that it is imperative to develop those ways of conceiving of natural phenomena that will lead to a deep sense of respect and responsibility for the natural world that surrounds us. (shrink)

Éste ese! momento crucial para emprender formas de vida sustentables, por lo que resulta esencial adoptar una ética de la tierra que reconozca el valor intrínseco además del valor útil de los seres que pueblan nuestro medio ambiente natural. En este ensayo empiezo enfocando los obstáculos a que se enfrenta el desarrollo de una ética de la tierra, obstáculos que resultan ser el producto de conocimientos limitados y suposiciones equivocadas. En resolución de esas problemáticas prácticas apunto, primero, la existencia de (...) inclinaciones naturales hacia la tierra y la vida. Además propongo que en el saber tradicional de los pueblos que han convivido mucho tiempo con sus espacios tenemos modelos de formas del conocer que nos pueden servir de modelo para llegar a desarrollar una cultura de aprecio de la tierra y de sus habitantes. (shrink)

This essay discusses ways of thinking about botanic gardens that pay close attention to their particularity as designed spaces, dependent on technique, that nonetheless purport to present (and preserve) natural entities (plants). I introduce an account of what gardens are, how botanic gardens differ from other gardens, and how this particular form of garden arose in history. After this I contrast three ways of understanding the function of botanic gardens in the present time: as sites of recreation, of conservation or (...) of encounter with nature. Finally I develop the idea that these gardens may serve as archetypes of collaboration with nature. I conclude that, in principle, botanic gardens can model alternative, creative new ways for human beings to relate to the natural environment. (shrink)